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ABSTRACT
Managed care systems have become of increasing importance in the field of healthcare. The significance of this type of system was especially established in the United States when managed care systems became the dominant method of healthcare provision. There are specific areas involving managed care that have been studied extensively to determine the quality of managed care systems, such as location, availability, physician-patient trust, health outcomes, specialized care, and disease management - and these factors contribute to the overall perceived healthcare quality of managed care systems. Exploring the relationship between managed care systems and cost effectiveness is also vital in studying healthcare administration. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of between managed care systems and low-income women, particularly in terms of healthcare quality; a primary outcome of this paper is that managed care systems have the potential for a reduced quality of healthcare for economically disadvantaged women, while a secondary outcome of this paper is the recommendation to continue benefitting low-income women through the continued implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite the recent repeal of the individual mandate via the "Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018."
Keywords: healthcare administration, medicine, public health, managed care, low-income populations, women's health, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
INTRODUCTION
Managed care systems are healthcare systems in which the ultimate aim is to reduce costs through contracting with a network of providers. This network is created by forming contracts with doctors and hospitals. During the last several decades, the percentage of Americans who participate in managed healthcare plans has risen dramatically - from less than 70 million in 2011 to over 90 million in 2016 (MCOL). This has made managed care emerge as the dominant method of healthcare provision in the United States (MCOL). Additionally, while health care spending in the United States has steadily increased year after year, managed care systems are widely believed to have helped to control the rising costs of the healthcare. However, Inglehart (1992) makes it clear that the costs of healthcare are steadily increasing at rates that much higher than even inflation - and that...