title: The effect of report cards on consumer choice in the health insurance market.
abstract: We test the effect of report cards on consumer choice in the HMO market. Federal employees were provided with report cards on a limited basis in 1995 and then on a widespread basis in 1996. Exploiting this natural experiment, we find that subjective measures of quality and coverage influence plan choices, after controlling for plan premiums, expected out of pocket expenses and service coverages. The effect is stronger within a small sample of new hires compared to a larger sample of existing federal employees. We also find evidence that report cards increase the price elasticity of demand for health insurance.
authors.affiliation: William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, NY 14627, USA. wedig@simon.rochester.edu
authors.forename: Gerard J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Wedig
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tai-Seale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D014481:United States; D037041:United States Government Agencies