HMOs in Latin America

UNM studied U.S. involvement in the Latin American health field. Here is an excerpt from an article on it, found here.

Questioning the veracity of what everybody knows can at times be frustrating, but holds some unique rewards. Already the group has found a number of paradoxes, said Waitzkin. While everybody knows, or believes that administrative costs are lower, the evidence of those benefits seems to be inconsistent.

For instance, "some state governments in the U.S. which have voted in managed care systems because of presumed lower administrative cost savings have started to see those administrative costs rise," he said. Also, in many incidences, states have introduced managed care plans simultaneously with funding cuts for social health programs -- and cost savings may be coming more from those cuts than from any administrative cost savings. And while theorists never expected that managed care companies would be able to produce substantial savings in rural areas, states are continuing to expand such care into rural
communities.

Managed care may not be a system where "one size fits all." Unlike in the United States, most Latin American citizens have a constitutional right to medical care. And, particularly for lower income families, access to healthcare in Latin America has traditionally been greater than what similar families could expect in the U.S.

"It is a rather common misconception that healthcare is better in the United States," said Waitzkin, "yet in many instances it isn't. People migrate to the United States for a number of economic issues, but finding better health care is seldom one of them."

As services are cut back, it is conceivable that lower income Latin Americans may find that their out-of-pocket expenses are increasing at the same time services are being cut back. Such experiences could have far reaching effects on the governments in those countries.