Elaborating a Dichotomous Measure of Enrollment Choice

Abstract

The objective of this study is to make health insurance plans more responsive to the needs of people by identifying plan characteristics that are important to consumers during their enrollment decisions. Employees from three companies were surveyed. Factor analysis indicated four dimensions of plans that are important to consumers: cost, freedom, quality, and psychosocial access. Among characteristics that described the "cost dimension" of plans, unpredictable out-of-pocket costs was the most important. Among characteristics that described the "freedom" dimension of plans, freedom to go to any doctor without authorization from the primary care physician was most important.