The American Experience with Managed Care

Abstract

Over tge past 50 years, there have been a series of attempts to change the system of mental health care in the United States. The first large movement was deinstitutionalization, which began in 1955 and proceeded in carnest in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. It was followed by a series of economic initiatives that affected all of health care in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Now, mental health care is being over-whelmingly dominated by a new system of administration and financing called managed care.