On October 15, UnitedHealth Group released a report proposing that the federal and state governments increase the use of managed care in Medicare and Medicaid to reduce health care spending and improve quality.  The authors suggest that fee-for-service coverage, which accounts for over 75 percent of Medicare and Medicaid spending, promotes fragmented health care and increased costs

 

From the report:

 

The US government’s chief health actuary projects that national health spending is now set to grow from $2.6 trillion to $4.6 trillion by the end of this decade. And rising government health spending is likely to be a main cause of the expanding US budget deficit over the next twenty five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Full Report: US Deficit Reduction: The Medicare and Medicaid Modernization Opportunity (PDF | 639 KB) 

UnitedHealth Group. (2010). US Deficit Reduction: The Medicare and Medicaid Modernization Opportunity.