The Chronic Search for a Health Care Cure With managed care, when you've seen one, you've seen one. He and his colleagues have shaped the excruciating debate over health care and the role of managed care. Insurance premiums skyrocketed, doubling over a five-year period in some cases. By 1993, Americans were pouring 13.7 percent of GDP into health care. As managed care took hold, premiums began to stabilize.
Today there are signs they are creeping up again.
Insurance paid for more hospital services, even if they weren't necessary. Health insurance was also tax free, so employers paid the whole thing. Expensive procedures surged at fantastic growth rates. More people were on Medicare and living longer. That strains public finances and crowds out other spending.