Determine a key difference between a fee-for-service plan and a managed plan, and indicate the plan that you believe to be most advantageous for the majority of patients. Provide support for your rationale.
Modern managed health care grew out of a desire to reform the traditional health care system, or the fee-for-service method of charging for health care. Under the fee-for-service method, doctors and hospitals got paid for each service they performed. There were no limits on their treatment decisions; doctors or hospitals could order as many tests as they felt necessary, for example. Doctors and hospitals made a lot of money under this system because they decided the prices charged for every visit. However, patients did not always benefit because their insurance companies would often only pay a percentage of the fees being charged.The different types of fee-for-service include indemnity plans and reimbursement plans. In an indemnity plan, the insurer sets an amount that it will pay for a specific medical service. In a reimbursement plan, the patient must pay all fees up front and then file claims to be reimbursed by the insurer. Fee-for-service health care is no longer widely in use. Most people today have some kind of menaged care insurance. There are many kinds of managed care organizations, but there are some common characteristics among them. All managed care organizations supervise the financing of medical care delivered to members. They all are concerned with cost-effectiveness, or saving money. By buying services in bulk, for many members at a time, managed care organizations can get lower prices with doctors and hospitals. Managed care organizations also reduce costs by limiting choice, which means providing members with a list of doctors from which to choose and lists of labs where tests can be performed. Even doctors are provided with lists of