title: Self-pay markets in health care: consumer Nirvana or caveat emptor?
abstract: As consumers face more incentives to make cost-conscious medical care decisions, some policymakers cite self-pay markets as models for consumer shopping. An analysis of the LASIK market revealed limited shopping overall, despite the fact that patients pay the full cost. For other self-pay procedures, consumers shop even less, for reasons ranging from urgency, to costs of obtaining price quotes, to quality concerns that prompt many consumers to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations. Given that consumer shopping is not prevalent in most self-pay markets, we expect the extent of shopping to be even more limited for many services covered by insurance.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, DC, USA. htu@hschange.org
authors.forename: Ha T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Jessica H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000191:economics*; D003363:Cost Control; D017046:Cost Savings; D005251:Fees, Medical; D005382:Financing, Personal; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics*; D020731:Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ / Q000191:economics; D011786:Quality Control; D014481:United States