The HMO Backlash — Righteous or Reactionary?

Abstract

The membership of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) now exceeds 50 million people and may grow by an additional 50 million by the year 2000. But all is not well in HMO-land. An angry and determined backlash is spreading across the nation. In 1996 alone, 1000 pieces of legislation attempting to regulate or weaken HMOs were introduced in state legislatures, and 56 laws were passed in 35 states. The backlash movement brings together patients who complain of services denied and physicians who are suffering the loss of autonomy and income.1 There are several manifestations of the backlash: federal and state legislation, . . .