Created as a response to rapidly rising medical costs in the '70s and '80s, HMOs offered the country a new form of medical treatment. Health care turned away from a system of treatment and direct billing and migrated under large HMO umbrellas. In this new system, doctors are accountable to the companies that employ them. HMOs have total control over patient treatment, often refusing access to specialists and expensive drugs. Stories abound of doctors who lie to providers to give their patients the treatment they need.
Patients have little recourse when denied treatment.
In Minnesota, many angry patients turn to the state Department of Health, where three employees are responsible for investigating more than 500 health care complaints a year. Workers who use HMO plans like those provided by Dayton-Hudson and 3M have even fewer options. Plans provided by these Minnesota behemoths do not allow employees to complain to the health department. Their only recourse is to file a complaint with their employer or go to court. The Democratic plan that allows patients to sue their HMOs and even their employers will not further the rights of patients.