To the Editor: I have several concerns about the article by Drs Hellinger and Young1 on physician antitrust exemption legislation.
First, I suspect that some of the profit reduction achieved by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in 1999 is attributable not only to physician fees but also to other providers such as hospitals, home care agencies, imaging fees, laboratory fees, and durable medical equipment expenses.
Second, if the balance of power were adjusted slightly in favor of physicians, might that mean that more capital would move from HMOs to physicians without significantly raising the costs to consumers? This assumes that HMOs should be cutting back on inefficient expenditures within their own companies and that some of those savings could be captured by physicians as well as the HMOs and the purchasers of health insurance.
Third, there does not seem to be much of a distinction between federal and new state law/policy, . . . [Full Text of this Article]
