Current Events Health Insurance Managed Care Medicaid Medicare Medicare Advantage

Does California really love Managed Care?

In short, yes. California is the land of managed care. Kaiser-Permanente–the managed care poster child–owns one third of the market.  Love for managed care is not just in the private market; in 2010, over half of all Medi-Cal and more than one-third of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans.  Further, California managed care plans even have their own regulator.  Whereas the California Department of Insurance (CDI) regulates non HMOs, the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) regulates HMOs.

A recent report by the California Health Care Foundation investigates managed care in California and provides a high quality overview of the California health insurance market.  Some of their findings include:

  • Five insurance carriers (Kaiser, Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, Blue Shield, United Healthcare) accounted for three-fourths of the $105 billion health insurance revenues in California in 2010. Revenue growth has been slower for managed care plans in recent years, however.
  • The six largest managed care plans together lost more than 400,000 commercial enrollees. On the other hand, Medi-Cal and Medicare managed care enrollment grew.
  • Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield experienced enrollment decline in 2010, which reversed a previous growth trend.
  • Large majorities of HMO and PPO members rated their plan highly in terms of getting appointments quickly, finding a doctor, and getting the care they need. HMO enrollees more often rated their care highly than those enrolled in PPOs, while PPO participants were more likely to favorably cite their ability to get an appointment quickly.

Source: Katherine Wilson, “California Health Plans and Insurers” California Health Care Foundation, November 2011.

1 Comment

  1. How is monopsony power in the health insurance market efficient at all? And why do we tolerate it?

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