HMO

7 Pages 1659 Words

234). It also prevents most lawsuits against HMOs from making it to trial. The few that do make it to court are only allowed to sue for legal fees and medical costs, not for damages. Since HMOs cannot be sued, they have no fear of being negligent.
Defining the purpose of health care should be an easy task, but it is not always as clear-cut and simple as it appears. According to the President’s Advisory Commission the purpose of health care “...must be to continually reduce the impact and the burden of illness, injury, and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the United States.” Using this definition as a basis, HMOs have clearly lost focus of this purpose. Evidence of this includes some important “avoidable errors.” For example, there is the fact that many Americans are injured while undergoing their treatment. In the ten-year period between 1983 and 1993 a national study was conducted that found that in the final year alone approximately 7,400 patients die...