Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Journal of Health Economics

Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance

By: George Loewenstein, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List and Kevin G. Volpp
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We report results from two surveys of representative samples of Americans with private health insurance. The first examines how well Americans understand, and believe they understand, traditional health insurance coverage. The second examines whether those insured under a simplified all-copay insurance plan will be more likely to engage in cost reducing behaviors relative to those insured under a traditional plan with deductibles and coinsurance and measures consumer preferences between the two plans. The surveys provide strong evidence that consumers do not understand traditional plans and would better understand a simplified plan, but weaker evidence that a simplified plan would have strong appeal to consumers or change their healthcare choices.

Keywords

Behavioral Economics; Simplification; Insurance; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Cognition and Thinking; Insurance Industry; Health Industry; United States

Citation

Loewenstein, George, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List, and Kevin G. Volpp. "Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance." Journal of Health Economics 32, no. 5 (September 2013): 850–862.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

John Beshears

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Automating Short-Term Payroll Savings: Initial Evidence from a Large U.K. Experiment

    By: Sarah Holmes Berk, John Beshears, James J. Choi and David Laibson
    • 2022
    • Behavioral Science & Policy

    How to Choose a Default

    By: John Beshears, Richard T. Mason and Shlomo Benartzi
    • AEA Papers and Proceedings

    Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects

    By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
More from the Authors
  • Automating Short-Term Payroll Savings: Initial Evidence from a Large U.K. Experiment By: Sarah Holmes Berk, John Beshears, James J. Choi and David Laibson
  • How to Choose a Default By: John Beshears, Richard T. Mason and Shlomo Benartzi
  • Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College