Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care?
In health care systems based upon the principles of managed competition, health insurers are expected to act as prudent buyers of care. Consumers are expected to switch between insurers based upon the performance of insurers in this role. Yet, the Dutch experience shows that trust of consumers in he...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
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| Series: | Health Economics, Policy and Law |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1744133124000185/type/journal_article |
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| author | Karel C. F. Stolper Izel Yildirim Lieke H. H. M. Boonen Frederik T. Schut Marco Varkevisser |
| author_facet | Karel C. F. Stolper Izel Yildirim Lieke H. H. M. Boonen Frederik T. Schut Marco Varkevisser |
| author_sort | Karel C. F. Stolper |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In health care systems based upon the principles of managed competition, health insurers are expected to act as prudent buyers of care. Consumers are expected to switch between insurers based upon the performance of insurers in this role. Yet, the Dutch experience shows that trust of consumers in health insurers is low and that switching consumers focus primarily on price. The question arises if consumers do in fact perceive and trust insurers as prudent buyers of care. We addressed this question by using a mixed-method approach. The results show that most people know that insurers buy health care and feel that the purchasing tasks suit their role. They even have reasonable, though fragile, trust in the purchasing competencies of the insurer. However, the results also revealed that consumers have insufficient information to cast a judgement about insurers as purchasers and incorrectly think that insurers are commercial organisations. Hence, improving the public information about insurers and their purchasing role seems to be crucial. Given the inherent complexity in the system, it remains to be seen if this objective can be reached in the (near) future. For that reason, policymakers should also consider additional measures to encourage that insurers will take integral purchasing responsibility. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8fe413413df4e93bd01fae5523efe8a |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1744-1331 1744-134X |
| language | English |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health Economics, Policy and Law |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8fe413413df4e93bd01fae5523efe8a2025-08-20T02:40:21ZengCambridge University PressHealth Economics, Policy and Law1744-13311744-134X12610.1017/S1744133124000185Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care?Karel C. F. Stolper0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3995-4154Izel Yildirim1Lieke H. H. M. Boonen2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6376-5105Frederik T. Schut3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5748-5403Marco Varkevisser4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6078-3586Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsEqualis Strategy & Modeling B.V., Utrecht, The NetherlandsErasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsErasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsErasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The NetherlandsIn health care systems based upon the principles of managed competition, health insurers are expected to act as prudent buyers of care. Consumers are expected to switch between insurers based upon the performance of insurers in this role. Yet, the Dutch experience shows that trust of consumers in health insurers is low and that switching consumers focus primarily on price. The question arises if consumers do in fact perceive and trust insurers as prudent buyers of care. We addressed this question by using a mixed-method approach. The results show that most people know that insurers buy health care and feel that the purchasing tasks suit their role. They even have reasonable, though fragile, trust in the purchasing competencies of the insurer. However, the results also revealed that consumers have insufficient information to cast a judgement about insurers as purchasers and incorrectly think that insurers are commercial organisations. Hence, improving the public information about insurers and their purchasing role seems to be crucial. Given the inherent complexity in the system, it remains to be seen if this objective can be reached in the (near) future. For that reason, policymakers should also consider additional measures to encourage that insurers will take integral purchasing responsibility.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1744133124000185/type/journal_articlemanaged competitionsystem evaluationhealth insurersconsumer trustconsumer perception |
| spellingShingle | Karel C. F. Stolper Izel Yildirim Lieke H. H. M. Boonen Frederik T. Schut Marco Varkevisser Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? Health Economics, Policy and Law managed competition system evaluation health insurers consumer trust consumer perception |
| title | Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? |
| title_full | Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? |
| title_fullStr | Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? |
| title_short | Do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care? |
| title_sort | do consumers perceive and trust health insurers within a system of managed competition as prudent buyers of care |
| topic | managed competition system evaluation health insurers consumer trust consumer perception |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1744133124000185/type/journal_article |
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