Consumer Choices Have Limited Impact On U.S. Health Care Spending: Study

(By – Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News)

A new study throws cold water on the popular idea that consumers can save themselves and the health care system loads of money if they become savvier shoppers for health care services.

The analysis by the Health Care Cost Institute focused on what consumers paid out of pocket, where comparison shopping can result in lower costs. The study found that less than 7 percent of total health care spending in 2011 was paid by consumers for “shoppable” services.

“What surprised us was the percent of total spending that [consumers] could affect was really pretty modest,” said Amanda Frost, a co-author of the study and a senior researcher at HCCI, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. “Because these gains are pretty modest, designing systems around expecting consumers to become uber shoppers might not be the best way.” Read more…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Notice: The link provided above connects readers to the full content of the posted article. The URL (internet address) for this link is valid on the posted date; medicarereport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the link’s validity. Also, the opinions expressed in these postings are the viewpoints of the original source and are not explicitly endorsed by AMAC, Inc.; the AMAC Foundation, Inc.; or medicarereport.org.