Managed Care Blues PB

Excellent, thoughtful, and concise analysis of what works and what doesn't in managed care - and why. The authors make a significant, highly practical contribution to the study - and improvement - of managed health care. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a sound, balanced grounding in the subject. Would be an excellent book for graduate courses in managed care.

In lively, concise chapters, Zelman and Berenson explain why and how managed care came about, what it is, what its problems are, and how they propose to solve them. My class loved the book. I was impressed by their judgment in highlighting just the right details from a vast history to carry their argument. I also was impressed by their honesty; they are keen on managed care but are candid about its failure to realize its potential for improving quality. Their concluding recommendations are fine, but the trends in the industry which they identify are blocking the changes they would like to see. Is managed care its own worst enemy?

This book provides a very concise but complete discussion of the accomplishments, unfulfilled promises, and problems of managed care. This summary is useful for health policymakers and others especially interested in the subject but is written to be accessible to non-experts. The authors outline several public and private sector policy changes they believe are needed to make managed care more effective and acceptable. The book's strengths are its balanced view of managed care's pros and cons and its identification of often-ignored trade-off between preferences (particularly consumer preferences for unlimited choice of doctors and medical services) and the desire (on the part of employers and government, which pay most of the bill) to control medical care spending. This book should be required reading for everyone participating in public discussion of health care regulation and "reform."