61.   For a long-term care plan to qualify for the deduction, it must meet two criteria.

62.   Foster Higgins credited health maintenance organizations and other managed care plans for holding health insurance costs down.

63.   Gramm said employees sign a contract with a managed care plan, and therefore should not be allowed to circumvent the agreement by appealing to courts or outside authorities.

64.   He argued that managed care plans would free the elderly to choose their health care options and simultaneously would reduce costs.

65.   Hardly a day passes without new allegations of patient mistreatment, care denials and financial scandals involving managed care health plans, including HMOs.

66.   He said the dispute underscored why he no longer was in a managed care plan.

67.   He vowed to shepherd nearly all Medicaid recipients into managed care plans and spin off the public hospital system into private hands.

68.   Health care experts also note that managed care plans are not available to more than nine million Medicare recipients because companies have not set up businesses where they live.

69.   Health insurance premiums are rising and big corporate clients are turning away from managed care plans.

70.   He said the dispute underscored why he was no longer in a managed care plan.