Wedig Gerard J, Tai-Seale Ming
William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
J Health Econ. 2002 Nov;21(6):1031-48. doi: 10.1016/s0167-6296(02)00075-9.
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.
我们测试了报告卡对健康维护组织（HMO）市场中消费者选择的影响。1995年，联邦雇员在有限范围内获得了报告卡，1996年则在广泛范围内获得。利用这一自然实验，我们发现，在控制了计划保费、预期自付费用和服务覆盖范围后，质量和覆盖范围的主观衡量指标会影响计划选择。与现有联邦雇员的较大样本相比，新雇员的小样本中的这种影响更强。我们还发现有证据表明，报告卡提高了医疗保险需求的价格弹性。
