Managed Care and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

The 1992 presidential campaign turned the nation's attention to a number of issues. but none was more controversial than the need for health care reform. As a result of the 1994 election, it appears that President Clinton's proposed health care plan will not gather the support necessary to become law. This does not mean that reforms will fail: it merely means that change will continue as it has for the past ten years. fueled by the people footing the majority of the nation's health costs: employers. As of 1993, employers were paying more than one-third of all medical bills in the United States. This is not to say that government has no role in this metamorphosis. Since state and federal governments employ large numbers of people, they, too, have a significant interest in cost controls. In addition, state and federal governments share the costs of Medicaid, and the federal government is responsible for Medicare.