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Reports on the increase in Medicare charges in the U.S. Possibility for elderly people to join Medicare health maintenance organizations operated by private industry; Actions taken by the government to address the problem.

Reports on the elimination of drug coverage for the elderly by health maintenance organizations in the U.S. Limitation of the way the coverage is offered; Increase in co-payments for drugs by Secure Horizons; Number of Medicare members dropped by the organizations.

Cites the result of a survey pertaining to the prices of health maintenance organizations/managed care plans in the U.S. Increase in health care costs and health plan profits compared to the pace of consumer inflation; Average increase that employers are seeking from health maintenance organizations.

Reports on the plan of the California Public Employees' Retirement System to increase the premiums for its members insured by health maintenance organizations.

Reports on the announcement of health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente on January 23, 2003 that it would publish on its Web site the guidelines developed and used by Kaiser's doctors for treatment of diseases.

Reports that Blue Shield of California, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the U.S., will announce an incentive program for hospitals that meet accepted standards for high-quality care. How it is introducing the program after criticism by some of the state's hospitals; Focus on evaluating hospitals in terms of quality and cost-effectiveness; Details of the plan.

Reports on a ruling issued by Judge Federico A. Moreno of Miami Federal District Court on managed care fraud cases filed against several health maintenance organizations.

Reports that some of the biggest United States insurers are introducing a health plan that would change the way employees are reimbursed for medical expenses. Warnings by experts that the plan may be more unfair than current plans to people who are sick; Insurers who are preparing to offer the plans; How the plans work; Comparison with other plans; Issue of prescription costs; Comments of specialists.

Reports that employees are being forced to drop their health plans and choose a different one as companies across the United States reduce their rosters of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) and other managed care insurers. Reasons that companies are reducing health care; Opinion that the cutbacks are part of a strategy to shift more of the costs gradually to employees as health care inflation increases; Way that this will affect employees.

Reports on the plan of health insurer Aetna Inc. to close or sell several of its unprofitable health maintenance organizations in the United States.

Reports that many United States health maintenance organizations (HMO), including Blue Cross of California, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Anthem Inc., have begun to offer rewards to doctors for quality of care, either in place of or in addition to, incentives to cut costs. Benefit to consumers; How automakers in Detroit are rewarding hospitals that provide high quality care through publicity.

Reports on a ruling issued by the California Supreme Court in May 2001, which makes it easier for Medicare patients to sue their health maintenance organizations.

Deals with the prediction concerning the reinvention of the health maintenance organizations (HMO) of the healthcare industry in the United States. Main concern of the industry; Challenges encountered by HMO; Factors which contribute to the resistance of customers to health plans.

Reports that high health maintenance organization (HMO) premiums are causing companies in the United States to switch to alternative insurance systems as of September, 2000. Proposals put forward by US presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore to alter Medicare in order to offer drug coverage for the elderly; Opinion that the increasing costs will cut companies' profits by adding to their operating costs; Effect of the cost on technology companies and smaller businesses.

Reports on the ruling of the United States Supreme Court to a core practice of managed care insurers, the offering of financial incentives to physicians who limit costs by restricting care. Argument on Illinois health maintenance organization rejected by the court; Status of the stocks of managed care companies; Impact of the decision on class-action plaintiffs' lawyers.

Features Aetna, an insurance company which transformed itself into a colossal force in health plan business. Details on health maintenance organizations (HMO); Annual cost of coverage for a typical family in an HMO; Economic state of Aetna.

Reports Aetna Inc.'s agreement to buy Prudential Health Care from the Prudential Insurance Company of America. Price; Number of customers and health maintenance organizations that will be part of the largest United States managed-care company; Aetna's reputation as the most stringent of US managed-care companies; Doctors' reservations about the move; Discussions at a meeting of the American Medical Association.

Focuses on the increasing popularity in the United States of managed health care plans known as preferred provider organizations (PPO). Comparison of PPOs to the managed care provisions of health maintenance organizations (HMO) and point-of-service HMOs; Consumer demand for wide choice and health plan efforts to provide it; Risk that consumer demand and increasing rejection of HMOs will cause US health care costs to rise.

Discusses the use of the Internet by a growing number of United States insurers, doctors and hospitals. Estimate of the number of hospitals who use the Internet, according to a 1998 survey; Use of the Internet to give information like personal medical records directly to a patient; Concern about the privacy of personal information; Internet plans of specific health plans.

Focuses on the complaints of medical doctors against the policy of the UnitedHealth Group, a health maintenance organization in the United States. Reason for hiring Magellan Specialty Health by the UnitedHealth Group; Areas of health treatment where the company require a prior approval; Comments from doctors.

Focuses on the ruling of New York state insurance regulators about health insurance premiums. Point-of-service plans as the targeted coverage; The loophole which distinguishes point-of-service plans from HMOs, and the ban on it passed by Albany.

Reports on how Oxford Health Plans has backed away from the brink of bankruptcy. Losses suffered by the company; Problem of the company with its computer systems; Increase in the premium rates of the company.

Provides information on the business dispute between the doctors in Tarrant County, Texas and Aetna U.S. Healthcare. Case story of a patient affected by the dispute; Arguments of the doctors on the contracts proposed by insurance companies in California; Accusations made by lawyers for the health maintenance organization on the doctors involved in the dispute.

Deals with the mergers of health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States. Agreement of Aetna Inc. to buy the Prudential Health Care unit of the Prudential Insurance Co. of America; Financial losses of Kaiser Permanente company; Implications of the rise in insurance premiums.

Provides information on Medicare and health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States. Areas where Medicare payments were too low to cover rising health care costs; Comments from HMO executives about the Medicare operation.

Reveals that Oxford Health Plans, one of the biggest managed care companies in the Northeast, was dropping coverage for elderly members of its Medicare health maintenance organizations (HMO) in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Impact of Oxford's action; Other companies that have announced that they are dropping Medicare HMO members.

Reports on big health care insurers who say that tougher limits are needed to counter rising costs and shrinking profits. Sharp cuts in the fees paid by insurers; Claims of doctors that strict new rules undermine patient care; Payments of insurers that are increasingly based on the lowest available fees; All-or-nothing contracts that require doctors to accept patients in all of an insurer's plans; Care that can suffer as doctors become more reluctant to fight health plans on behalf of their patients.

Reports the alliance of several companies to reduce bids by health maintenance organizations for facilitating health coverage to their employees. List of companies in the coalition; Area covered under the negotiation.

Informs of the decision of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to revise a criticized plan to endorse selected health maintenance organizations (HMO) in April 1997. Dropping of a proposal to collect royalty payments for each of its members who joined an HMO; The royalties proposal as drawing criticism from government officials; Other critics of the royalties proposal.

Focuses on criticism from hospitals, doctors and patients that health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States are taking longer to pay their bills. Some of the biggest HMOs as among the slowest payers; Changes in the HMO business that frustrate providers and patients; HMOs as struggling to raise operating income; Figures showing the average length of time that some HMOs take to pay their bills.

Focuses on the efforts of health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States, to ease the rules requiring patients to obtain prior approval before visiting a specialist. How some HMOs are simplifying and speeding up the process; The accompanying premium increase; Graph showing percentage of consumers who are not satisfied with their health plan; Details of rules changes in several HMOs; Comments of experts.

Reports on the decision of the American Association of Retired Persons to award its seal of approval to selected health maintenance organizations in the United States.

Reports that managed-care companies in the United States are starting, as of 1997, to cut some of the benefits that millions of elderly Americans on Medicare counted on when they signed up with health maintenance organizations (HMO). Popularity of the health plans because they fill many of the biggest gaps in Medicare including costs for prescription drugs; Cost of the plans largely paid by the government; Changes due to a cap set by Congress on 1998 payments to Medicare HMOs.

Reports that the Oxford Health Plans health maintenance organization (HMO) of Norwalk, Connecticut, signed up hundreds of medical specialists to diagnose and treat expensive medical conditions for set fees, rather than piecemeal payments. The move as a sharp departure from industry practice; Criticism of the move; How the company expects to reduce its costs; Options available to its members.

Discusses the problems facing the health maintenance organization's (HMO's) with their employers pitting them against one another. Slowdown in the growth of smaller HMO's in United States; Comparison between the spendings of the for-profit and non-profit organizations; Details of the earnings by various HMO's during the 1995 first quarter.

Looks at the cash and stock awards granted to the chief executives of various health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States. Reactions of consumer groups, doctors and other employees to the monetary awards given to these executives. INSET: Rich rewards..

Informs a trend in United States, where the companies and institutions, that provide medical facilities to their employees, use the service of health maintenance organizations (HMO). Figures on the cost of treatment for on-the-job injuries.

Discusses open-ended HMOs (health maintenance organizations), or point-of-service plans. Employers have found them to be a way to tame rising costs while still allowing employees freedom to choose their own doctors and hospitals. White House and private insurers pressing for the open-ended approach; Escape hatch; Share of plan enrollment; Health insurance plans offering open-ended HMO's in the New York region.

Informs that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) will begin licensing its name to health maintenance organizations across the United States later in 1996. A move which could prompt millions of older Americans to join managed health plans; The number of members in the AARP; Details of this plan.

Reports on consolidations in the managed-care industry, focusing on the acquisition of U.S. Healthcare by the Aetna Life and Casualty Co. The majority of the mergers being between health-maintenance organizations (HMO); Other types of combinations, such as ones between HMOs and insurance companies with traditional health care plans.

Reports that health maintenance organizations (HMO) are fighting back against drug companies in the battle over costs. The decision by the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York to stop paying for most of Merck & Co.'s products; Damage to sales for Merck, the United States' largest drug maker; Efforts by Merck to get its customers back; The situation as a sign of the shifting power balance between drug manufacturers and managed care companies.