Consumerism in health care. Prevalence and predictors.

Current efforts to contain health care costs include a variety of strategies aimed at the users of health services. These approaches attempt to encourage users to be more cost-conscious and to shop for lower-cost services and more efficient health care plans. The primary method for achieving this is by increasing the consumer's exposure to the cost of health insurance and the cost of care. The assumption is that approaches that increase cost-sensitivity will stimulate greater consumerism among the users of care. This paper presents findings from a study that investigates the extent to which members of insured populations have a consumer approach to health care, identifies factors related to consumer behaviors and attributes, and examines the degree to which consumer cost-sensitivity is associated with other consumer-oriented behaviors. The data used are derived from face-to-face interviews. Only a minority of the respondents engage in the examined consumer behaviors. Both social demographic and attitudinal factors affect the likelihood of engaging in consumer behaviors. Being cost-sensitive appears to be only a minor stimulant to other consumer attributes. Policy implications are discussed.