THE MEDIA VS MANAGED HEALTH-CARE - ARE WE SEEING A FULL COURT PRESS

Background: Despite the fact that medical coverage for many Americans is shifting rapidly from traditional insurance to managed care, studie s suggest that most citizens have limited knowledge dr understanding o f the implication of this change. Objective: To evaluate the predomina nt message being Portrayed by the lay press on managed care. Methods: We conducted a review of newspaper articles dealing with managed care from several leading national newspapers. Surveys, editorials, letters to the editor, or nonclinical articles were excluded. The articles we re examined to evaluate their likely effect on the reader's willingnes s to join a managed care organization, and were scored using a standar dized survey instrument. The final analysis included data from 85 arti cles from an original pool of 277. Results: In only 8% of cases, the a rticles were considered likely to have had a positive influence on the reader and, thus, encourage them to join or remain with a managed car e organization. More important, in fully two thirds of cases, we belie ved the articles portrayed so unfavorable a message that the reader wa s less likely to join, or might even decide to leave, a managed care o rganization. The articles dealt most frequently (67%) with patient con cerns with managed care, focused mainly on cost and quality issues, an d managed care representatives were the people whose opinions were mos t commonly (53%) solicited. Conclusions: It seems highly likely that p ublic perception of managed health care will be influenced by the stro ngly negative representation being portrayed by the newspapers. While debate over the good vs bad features of managed care continues, availa ble evidence suggests this form of health care coverage continues to g row. The press is likely to remain an important source by which inform ation about managed care is transmitted to the public and will certain ly influence public decision making on the issue. If the current negat ive representation continues, we may soon begin to see a widespread ba cklash of public opinion opposing this form of health care.