HMO penetration tops 70% in largest HMO markets

MANAGED CARE February 1999. ©1999 Stezzi Communications

HMO penetration continues to grow slowly in large markets (1 million or more residents), while spreading more rapidly in smaller markets. As of Jan. 1, 1998 (the latest date for which statistics are available), penetration hit 70 percent for the first time in the most highly saturated large market, while smaller markets edged toward 80-percent penetration. Commercial HMOs held monopolies in more than a dozen smaller markets, the largest of which is Brownsville, Texas.

SOURCE: REGIONAL MARKET ANALYSIS 8.2, INTERSTUDY PUBLICATIONS, MINNEAPOLIS, 1998