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  • Behavioural Public Policy

Unhealthy Consumerism: The Challenge of Trading Off Price and Quality in Healthcare

By: Kate Barasz and Peter A. Ubel
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

Over the last decade, healthcare in many parts of the world has shifted toward a more patient-centric, consumeristic model, marked by an emphasis on choice and a proliferation of typical consumer-facing information (e.g., price and quality data). However, while the "patients as consumers" perspective is an apt one, there are crucial differences between healthcare and typical consumer domains that warrant special consideration by policymakers and researchers alike. This article discusses some of these differences and explores the challenges that consumers (a.k.a. patients) face when making tradeoffs between price and quality.

Keywords

Medical Decision-making; Choice; Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Price; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making

Citation

Barasz, Kate, and Peter A. Ubel. "Unhealthy Consumerism: The Challenge of Trading Off Price and Quality in Healthcare." Behavioural Public Policy 2, no. 1 (May 2018): 41–55.
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More from the Authors
  • Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton and Leslie K. John
  • Motivated Inferences of Price and Quality in Healthcare Decisions By: Emily Prinsloo, Kate Barasz and Peter A. Ubel
  • Hoping for the Worst? A Paradoxical Preference for Bad News By: Kate Barasz and Serena Hagerty
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