Medical CareThe United States has moved from an agricultural country to an industrialized country and from a predominantly industrialized country to a more information and service-oriented country. Health care has changed in the way it works, just as the country has changed. When the United States was an agricultural country, health care was provided by physicians who worked independently and provided health care to patients in a defined community or county. This health care was a fee-for-service payment system. However, these fees could often be charged in a barter type system. In this system, patients would exchange goods for services. As the country transitioned to an industrial society, health care also evolved. Health care providers established group offices that allowed them to support each other, when necessary, in providing care to their clients. Healthcare has primarily focused on providing health care to patients under a “fee-for-service” payment system. Now that the country has entered the information and service markets, health care has also developed a method of transitioning to the information and service markets. Today, healthcare providers have added one more option for their customers. This option is known as Managed Care. Both types of healthcare payment are available today, but managed care is beginning to lead the way in the healthcare industry. Service charges are defined when a patient sees a medical provider for a medical service and that medical provider bills the health plan. of the patient or the patient will pay for the services to the medical provider and will have the option of being reimbursed by the health insurance plan, if applicable. (Arnett and Trapneil, 1984) This was the central point of the article......Freeland, Michael S. and Schendler, Charles E., "National Health Expenditure Growth in the 1980's: An Aging Population, New Technologies and Growing Competition,” Health Care Financing Review, 1983. Kongstvedt, Peter R., MD and Young, Ernst LLP, “The ManagedHealth Care Handbook,” Third Edition, Aspen Publication Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1996. Rober, William L., MD , “Does managed care provide better quality care than fee-for-service medicine” http://www.wnet,org/archive/mch/Viewpoints/procon3.html, “A survey of patients in. Managed Care and Fee-for-Service Settings – Three-City Survey Finds U.S. Workers Are Dissatisfied » http://www.cmwf.org/health_care/mgdcrhtl.html.Department of Health and Human Services. United States (DHHS), “Medicare Care Contract Report”, Rockville, Maryland, DHHS, 1995.