The Development of Managed Care Organizations Has Improved Health Care in the United States - Essay Example

The paper "The Development of Managed Care Organizations Has Improved Health Care in the United States" is a great example of an essay on social science.  Managed Care Organizations or MCOs use a variety of techniques to reduce the cost of health care services and at the same time improve the quality of health care before providing these services to the members or other organizations. MCOs provide health insurance plans by making agreements with health care providers and medical associations with the aim that the members are provided health care services at a low cost. The development of MCOs, which has increased in the past 10 years, has definitely improved the status of health care in the United States (Scutchfield et al.). In the United States, there are many types of MCOs, the major ones of which are preferred provider organizations (PPO), exclusive provider organization (EPO), and health maintenance organizations (HMO). All of these MCOs are working to improve the overall quality of health care and, in turn, they are also benefitting from the managed care in that they can attract and retain employees who are offered medical services at reduced costs. So, it is a win-win situation for both the MCOs and employees. MCOs gain employees to stay competitive in the market, and employees, in turn, enjoy improved and affordable health care services. MCOs also tend to provide focused care to the patient since the current problem is focused on and treated, and the patient also does not have to waste time in a private physician’s waiting room. Although there are some pitfalls too, still I believe that MCOs are playing their part in improving health care in the country.