Health Maintenance Organizations...have been around since 1937.  Kaiser was the first in the U.S. and is still around.  There are several kinds of HMOs with Kaiser being one of the most successful.  

 

Staff Model HMOs  control costs the best by controlling the process.  This means they are overseeing what doctor you can see and when you are approved to see a Specialist.  The ''gate keeper'' approach has been one of the biggest concerns of this type of HMO.

 

Other HMO plans have been more like a traditional Point of Service Plan with the exception of your need to use the HMOs directory of doctors.  There is no out of network coverage available.

 

With the increasing cost of Health care, people are asking are the HMOs still doing the job they once did to better control cost.  All insurance plans are going up in cost but some at different rates of increase.  Are HMOs holding the line better?

 

This is debatable and hard to determine.  Health Savings plans and Health Reimbursement Accounts are becoming somewhat more popular. There goal is to slow the rise in health care by transferring some of the risk back to the employee. This has an initial savings that stays with the plan but hasn't proven yet to slow the rate of increase.  More data is still needed.  

 

The one thing that has become evident, however, is that when it is truly the employees money, they are more cafeful about how and when their money is spent.  That is ultimately the whole idea.

 

 

 

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