Perspectives

Abstract

With changing presidential leadership has come an opportunity to rethink and reconstruct the way health care is financed and delivered in this country. The concept of managed competition has received more attention in recent months than at any time during its decade of development. A central feature of managed competition as it is defined by this volume s authors is the health insurance purchasing cooperative, or HIPC. This set of Perspectives examines various aspects of these purchasing cooperatives; the papers here were presented at a conference, “Choice Alternatives: Strategies for Universal Health Insurance and Managed Competition,” held 20-22 November 1992 at Princeton University. First, Walter Zelman examines the governance of HIPCs. Paul Starr then outlines the design of the HIPCs and suggests a plan for their development. James Robinson discusses payment issues, and Shoshanna Sofaer addresses issues of consumer protection and advocacy.