Does paying bonuses to doctors for running fewer tests and issuing fewer references to specialists violate the responsibilities that HMOs have to patients? The Supreme Court will hear arguments from both sides of this issue on Wednesday. The LA Times has a good article on the issue that provides lots of background information on why most people aren’t allowed to sue their HMOs right now. For what it’s worth, I think that giving doctors a financial incentive not to order tests or otherwide provide the best care possible for their patients is clearly unethical, and ought to be illegal.