Medicaid Managed Care: Providing Compassionate, Person-Centered Care for Individuals Dependent on the Public System

Abstract

Managed care has been historically criticized as having a focus on controlling costs, as opposed to promoting healthcare. This thesis will discuss how managed care, particularly for the Medicaid population, can be implemented in an ethical manner through a focus on person-centered care and a modern view of autonomy. It will review the history of managed care as well as the evolution of bioethical values and a modern view of healthcare. Specifically, this thesis will reject that managed care is paternalistic but, if done properly, in fact promotes individual autonomy. A person-centered approach is critical to such a model, as health care should no longer be seen as treating a discrete problem, but rather as a holistic approach to an individual’s life, inclusive of not only discrete treatments, but incorporating a recognition and acceptance of socioeconomic elements and the concept of “dignity of risk”.