Does America hate its HMOs?

• Author: Lynch, Michael W.

Conventional wisdom in Washington holds that Americans are angry about managed health care and want the government to do something about it. But when American Enterprise Institute Fellow Karlyn Bowman examined public polling data, she found Americans to be content with their own managed care plans.

Upwards of 80 percent of Americans in managed care are satisfied with the quality of their care, their ability to get appointments, and their access to specialists, according to Roper and ABC polls. And it's not just the healthy who are happy. One ABC poll found 88 percent of people who suffered, or had a family member who suffered, a serious injury or illness were satisfied with the care they received. More revealing, 79 percent of those polled by ABC said they would recommend their plan. Yet for all their personal satisfaction, Americans still seem to feel that there's something wrong with managed care. A Princeton Survey Research Associates poll found that when asked to ponder managed care in general, most Americans say HMOs have generally restricted access to specialists and decreased the quality of health care.

Karlyn Bowman discussed the data with Washington Editor Michael W. Lynch.

Q: There seems to be an "1 hate Congress but love my congressman" phenomenon. Now it seems people dislike HMOs in general but like the HMO they're enrolled in.

A: This is true in many areas. We think race relations in the nation have enormous problems...