Vulnerability to risk and awareness of dual choice of health insurance plan.

Data from a survey of UAW members are examined in an attempt to determine why one-third of those who chose an incumbent health insurance plan did not recall later that a new plan had been offered to them as an alternative. Among members of the incumbent plan, those who recalled the choice and those who did not are compared with regard to age, education, income, family life stage, residential variables, and involvement in organizational activity; the social and demographic data are interpreted as reflecting, on the part of those who recalled their choice, a position of special vulnerability in meeting health needs that was not indicated among those who did not recall the choice.