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Which consumers are ready for consumer-directed health plans?

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Abstract

Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHPs) are new and increasingly popular insurance products in the United States that aim to increase consumer involvement in health care decision-making. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we examine characteristics of employees in a large firm that voluntarily enroll in CDHPs. We find salaried and hourly high deductible CDHP enrollees to be substantially healthier and have higher educational attainment than Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) enrollees. There was less favorable selection into a more popular, lower deductible CDHP.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the CDHP provider and the participating employer in the study for their openness and commitment to research on CDHPs. We also would like to thank “The Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization” (HCFO) initiative, a program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for providing support for this research.

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Correspondence to Jessica Greene.

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Greene, J., Hibbard, J.H., Dixon, A. et al. Which consumers are ready for consumer-directed health plans?. J Consum Policy 29, 247–262 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-006-9008-z

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