For consumers, managed care is a choice between limited access to providers and premium costs; the greater the access, the higher the premium; the more limited the choice of providers, the lower the premium. In the late nineties, the so-called “managed care backlash” occurred when cost increases moderated, and consumers demanded access to any provider.
This spawned the “open access” HMO model, tiered benefit plans, and the explosion of PPOs. Now, with costs once more on a double-digit inflation path, there appears to be more willingness on the part of consumers to trade access for lower cost.
The Center for the Study of Health System Change released a national report entitled “More Americans Willing to Limit Physician-Hospital Choice for Lower Medical Costs“.
The Center reported that “Between 2001 and 2003, the proportion of working-age Americans with employer health coverage willing to trade broad choice of providers for lower out-of-pocket costs increased from 55 percent to 59 percent
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