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Show Hingkley Journal of Politics 2006 urns, albeit by only one to three percent. However, given the current state of affairs, even that small of increase is unacceptable. Until America does more to control its healthcare costs, it may be more prudent to live with some uncomfortable policies and procedures rather than risk leaving even more citizens without health insurance. The consequences of allowing health costs to continue their upward trend are simply too great, and although MCOs are far from perfect, they are one of the few reliable solutions that America has. Summary & Conclusions Any Willing Provider legislation certainly sounds good at first. After all, who does not want the freedom to make their own choices, especially on something as intimate as healthcare? And in a free market economy such as the United States, it would seem that open and free competition would only help remedy a system that is already costing us too much. Since AWP would seem to remedy both of these grievances, how could it be bad policy? Unfortunately, the reality is not that simple. AWP legislation serves to undermine some of the most effective cost-saving techniques of MCOs, and this effect is particularly accentuated in cases concerning FOC or MPOS legislation. The volume discount advantage is the most significant, but an inability to enforce quality standards, control and dictate procedure coverage and referrals and increases in administrative expenses will all serve to increase the costs incurred by MCOs. In turn, their premium rates will have to pick up the slack. The issues surrounding AWP laws can understandably be emotional; patients have not taken kindly to restrictions on their choice of doctors, for example, and rightfully so. But the bigger problem in American healthcare is not how MCOs operate, but the fact that we need them at all. As health costs continue to rise, the burden on American businesses and consumers will get heavier and heavier, with undesirable results. As the General Motors example illustrates, American businesses may struggle to be competitive in an increasingly global marketplace where most other industrialized nations place the burden of health costs not on businesses alone, but on society as a whole. Every state has a different market to deal with, and in some situations more specific AWP legislation may have some useful and logical applications. Admittedly, solid evidence conclusively proving that AWP will have some negative impacts is hard to come by. However, the existing empirical evidence indicates that AWP has a strong potential for imposing negative consequences as side effects, and there is precious little data to prove otherwise. Given the current state of affairs in America's healthcare system, none of AWP's potential consequences can be justified or afforded. 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