Mandated Benefits: Their Social, Economic, and Legal Implications

Abstract

Expenditures for health care have reached a point where they represent almost 10 percent of the gross national product; health care has become one of the country's largest industries. Moreover, the cost of health care continues to increase more rapidly than inflation. Many policy makers and critics of the health care system believe that the promotion of competition among health care providers can be instrumental in keeping the price of health services down.The health care boom and ever accelerating health care expenditures have stimulated the availability of new providers, and many hope that these alternative providers will enhance competition in the health care system. Non-physician practitioners, such as podiatrists, optometrists, chiropractors, and nurse-midwives, and such non-traditional delivery mechanisms as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), ambulatory surgical centers, and birthing centers, have been gaining increasing support at both the federal and state levels of government. Proponents believe that these alternative providers and mechanisms not only produce more options for consumers but also help contain the cost of health care in the United States.