A COMPARISON OF PHYSICIAN AND HOSPITAL USE AMONG THE NONELDERLY COVERED BY HMOS AND INDEMNITY INSURANCE

This article uses data from the 1992 National Health Interview Survey to compare medical services use between chronically ill nonelderly peo ple with health maintenance organization (HMO) or indemnify insurance. The authors estimated regressions for two subgroups of privately insu red individuals: those with 1 or more of 15 chronic conditions and tho se who reported their health as being fair or poor. For the subgroup w ith chronic conditions, HMO members were more likely to have a physici an visit, controlling for other factors, than their indemnity counterp arts. The authors found no differences in the likelihood of having a h ospital stay or in the number of hospital days for those with at least one stay. Finally, for the subgroup who reported their health as bein g fair or poor, the authors found no differences in service Else betwe en HMO members and similar people in indemnity plans.