Shattering the myths about what's wrong with managed health care, this penetrating introduction to managed care explains its origins and identifies its real achievements and shortcomings. Walter A. Zelman and Robert A. Berenson argue that many criticisms of managed care tend to idealize the costly and fragmented insurance system it supplanted, without pinpointing the true inadequacies of today's managed care. In addition to providing reasoned answers to the most alarmist critiques of managed care, the authors maintain that it has not fulfilled its potential to improve the overall quality of care. The authors propose thirteen concrete recommendations for raising quality in managed care programs, ranging from enacting additional legal protections and increased disclosure to putting the purchasing power in the hands of those who care most about quality - individuals, rather than employers. With practical solutions for making managed care better, "The Managed Care Blues and How to Cure Them" is a bold call for greater consumer protection, knowledge, and power in the health care arena.