Public concern over healthcare costs reflected in bias against suing HMOs - In the News - survey results - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Healthcare Financial Management, Oct, 2001

American consumers are highly concerned about rising healthcare costs that would result from a new right to sue managed care plans, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The survey also found that American healthcare consumers' top concern is rising healthcare costs, not HMO reform.

Americans would be more likely to support patient protection legislation that did not include a new right to sue health plans. According to the survey, 80 percent of the respondents prefer a patients' bill of rights with limits on the right to sue, compared with 16 percent of the respondents who support legislation without lawsuit limits.

When asked which healthcare issue is the most important, respondents named overall affordability most often (30 percent), followed by affordability of prescription drugs for senior citizens (15 percent), keeping Medicare financially secure (13 percent), expanding healthcare coverage (13 percent), helping families with long-term healthcare costs for elderly or disabled family members (13 percent), and protecting patients' rights in HMOs and managed healthcare plans (7 percent).

The survey also found that 60 percent of the respondents believe premiums would increase if a patients' bill of rights were enacted, compared with 6 percent who believe premiums would decline. Also, 42 percent of respondents say enactment of patients' rights legislation would make employers less likely to offer health insurance, compared with 46 percent who believe the legislation would not make employers less likely to offer health insurance.

Support for a patients' bill of rights drops significantly when these potential downsides are identified. Support for a patients' bill of rights drops from 81 percent to 58 percent if the legislation would increase health insurance premiums by about $20 a month for a typical family, and support drops from 81 percent to 34 percent if the legislation meant that "some employers might stop offering health insurance plans to their workers because the employers are afraid they might be sued."