Influence of health care preferences on insurance enrollment and medical expenditure behaviors

Individual attitudes and opinions may visibly impact upon an individual's decisions on how and when to use health care services and associated decisions with respect to medical expenditures. These health care preferences also serve as important inputs in helping to predict health insurance coverage take-up decisions. This study provides a detailed investigation of the degree of concordance over time in health care attitudes regarding the need and value of health insurance coverage based on national data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Individuals who consistently indicated they were healthy and did not need coverage were substantially less likely to have a medical expense in both years, relative to their counterparts who consistently disagreed with that classification. In addition, adults under the age of 65 who consistently indicated that health insurance was not worth the cost were at nearly three times as likely to be continuously uninsured relative to those who consistently disagreed. The Affordable Care Act was enacted with major provisions to expand health insurance coverage, control health care costs, and improve the health care delivery system. The analyses conducted in this study provide important insights regarding the significant influences exerted by health insurance preferences upon forthcoming coverage enrollment decisions and related interactions with the healthcare system.