ABSTRACT
Kaiser Permanente, the country’s original health maintenance organization (HMO), is now marketing the fact that they are trying to get their members to practice healthy lifestyles. “We stand for broccoli, Pilates, and dental floss” (Rundle, 2004, p. B3). Of course, the original slant of the HMO was that prevention was less costly than treatment. Therefore, frequent “well-person” visits were going to be encouraged, vaccinations would be paid for, and health “counselors” would be available to meet with members to ensure that they stayed healthy—it would profit the HMO to do these things.
