Choices in Health Care: What are they and What are they Worth?

Abstract

This overview article provides a conceptual introduction to this special issue on health care choices, containing four main papers originally commissioned in 1997 for a conference titled “The Power of Choice in the Health Care Marketplace and Its Consequences,” sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under its Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) program and conducted by the Alpha Center on November 19, 1997. Drawing on information from these four papers, the authors discuss what factors affect the different choices we face, highlighting the fact that different players in the health care system face diverse and often conflicting choices and trade-offs. The authors then examine the consumer choice model and its premise that when consumers are presented with adequate information about these different choices, they will make selections about plans, providers, and health insurance that will move the health care system toward a higher quality/lower cost equilibrium.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Chernew, M.

, and

D. P. Scanlon

. 1998. Health Plan Report Cards and Insurance Choice. Inquiry35 (Spring): 9-22.

Dalek, G.

1998. Consumer Information in Medicare+Choice. Testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, 105th Cong., 2d sess., May 6.

Edgman-Levitan, S.

, and

P. Cleary

. 1996. What Information Do Consumers Want and Need?Health Affairs15 (4): 42-56.

Families USA Foundation

. 1997. Comparing Medicare HMOs: Do They Keep Their Members?Washington, DC: Families USA Foundation.

Felt-Lisk, S.

, and

S. Yang

. 1997. Changes in Health Plans Serving Medicaid, 1993-1996. Health Affairs16 (5): 125-133.

Gibbs, D. A.

J. A. Sangl

, and

B. Burrus

. 1996. Consumer Perspectives on Information: Needs for Health Plan Choice. Health Care Financing Review18 (1): 55-73.

Hibbard, J. H.

, and

J. J. Jewett

. 1997. Will Quality Report Cards Help Consumers?Health Affairs16 (3): 218-228.

Hibbard, J. H.

J. J. Jewett

M. W. Legnini

, and

M. Tusler

. 1997. Choosing a Health Plan: Do Large Employers Use the Data?Health Affairs16 (6): 172-180.

Hibbard, J. H.

P. Slovic

, and

J. J. Jewett

. 1997. Informing Consumer Decisions in Health Care: Implications from Decision-Making Research. The Milbank Quarterly75 (3): 395-414.

10.

Hoy, E. W.

E. K. Wicks

, and

R. A. Forland

. 1996. A Guide to Facilitating Consumer Choice. Health Affairs15 (4): 9-30.

11.

Isaacs, S. L.

1996. Consumers’ Information Needs: Results of a National Survey. Health Affairs15 (4): 31-41.

12.

Kleimann, S.

1998. Inundated by Information: Consumer Information of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, 105th Cong., 2d sess., May 6.

13.

Klinkman, M. S.

1991. The Process of Choice and Health Care Plan and Provider: Development of an Integrated Analytic Framework. Medical Care Review48 (3): 295-329.

14.

Kuttner, R.

1998. Must Good HMOs Go Bad? First of Two Parts: The Commercialization of Prepaid Group Health Care. New England Journal of Medicine338 (21): 1558-1563.

15.

Meyer, J. A.

E. K. Wicks

L. S. Rybowski

, and

M. J. Perry

. 1998. Report on Report Cards: Initiatives of Health Coalitions and State Government Employers to Report on Health Plan Performance and Use Financial Incentives. Washington, DC: Economic and Social Research Institute.

16.

Pontes, M. C.

1995. Agency Theory: A Framework for Analyzing Physician Services. Health Care Management Review20 (4): 57-67.

17.

Reischauer, R. D.

1997. Medicare Reform and the Federal Employees Benefits Program. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance, May 21.

18.

Rice, T.

1997. Can Markets Give Us the Health System We Want?Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law22 (2): 383-426.

19.

Rodwin, M. A.

1996. Consumer Protection and Managed Care: The Need for Organized Consumers. Health Affairs15 (3): 110-123.

20.

Rodwin, M. A.

. 1997. The Neglected Remedy: Strengthening Consumer Voice in Managed Care. The American Prospect34 (September/October): 45-50 (page reference in text is to reprint edition, which is not listed here).

21.

Sofaer, S.

1993. Informing and Protecting Consumers Under Managed Competition. Health Affairs (Suppl.): 76-86.

22.

Tumlinson, A.

H. Bottigheimer

P. Mahoney

E. M. Stone

, and

A. Hendricks

. 1997. Choosing a Health Plan: What Information Will Consumers Choose?Health Affairs16 (3): 229-238.