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PubMed2002

Low demand for substitutive voluntary health insurance in Germany.

AIM: To examine why the demand for substitutive voluntary health insurance in Germany is low. METHOD: A comparison of the benefits and costs of statutory and voluntary health insurance in Germany, based on a review of literature published in academic journals and books as well as gray literature. RESULTS: Employees in Germany with gross earnings over 40,500 Euros a year can choose to opt out of the statutory health insurance scheme (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV) and purchase substitutive voluntary health insurance instead. Only a quarter of these employees and their dependents actually choose to opt out; the majority remain in the GKV. Substitutive voluntary health insurance does not generally afford greater benefits than the GKV in terms of services provided or choice of insurer and only affords marginal benefits in terms of choice of provider. It is also more expensive than the GKV for people with dependents, elderly people and people in poor health. Consequently, the choice to opt out and purchase substitutive voluntary health insurance is more likely to be taken by young, healthy or single people or couples with double incomes. CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that the demand for substitutive voluntary health insurance in Germany is low because the costs of opting out of the GKV are, in general, higher than the benefits afforded by purchasing substitutive voluntary health insurance. In the long term substitutive voluntary health insurance does not appear to provide good value for money when compared to the GKV, particularly for people with dependents, elderly people, and people in poor health.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1979

The application of market research in contraceptive social mass marketing in a rural area of Kenya.

Because of the restricted nature of clinic systems, commercial channels and social marketing techniques are now being mobilized for family planning purposes. Market research is fundamental to the success of such programs. In addition to normal survey procedures and the limitations of analysis merely in terms of pairwise relationships, systems models are applied to the survey findings of a Kenya contraceptive social marketing experiment in order to gain insights into the enogenous and exogenous variables relating to consumer behavior using bivariate techniques. The results of such analysis on the survey findings are presented. The conclusion is drawn that model building methodologies as described for evaluating contraceptive social marketing programs do not present any significant difficulties and that it is a practical and useful technique that provides useful insights into the dynamics of adoption of socially desirable products such as contraceptives.

Africa↗
PubMed1984

[Children as a burden, children as a joy: theses on family formation and number of children].

"This article surveys significant changes in fertility and nuptiality in Central and Western Europe since the middle of the 19th century. In this context the secular decline in birth rates is understood as a consequence of changes in the social structure as well as of diffusion of social norms." It is noted that for the period after 1920, and especially after 1950, no "determinants" exist that can completely explain fluctuations in marriages and births. "Hence, the central thesis of this article is the following: There is no stable pattern of family formation in a modern industrial society and the number of children is not directly linked to mortality conditions or economic constraints. Subsequently, the article develops several hypotheses concerning the significance of marriage and parenting in the late 20th century, and points out that ups and downs in marriages, divorces, and births may be seen in analogy to other fashion-like processes (such as consumer behavior or social behavior)." (summary in ENG)

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Consumer motivation towards purchasing fruit from integrated production in Belgium.

Consumer concerns about food safety have been steadily growing during the last decade. Along with the recognition of the increasing power from the consumer side of food chains, this has forced agricultural producers to innovate and adapt their production methods. One of those developments is integrated production of pip fruit (IFP). This research analyses and presents motivational structures of consumers towards purchasing IP fruit in Belgium. The research methodology builds on means-end-chain (MEC) theory, with data collected through personal laddering interviews with consumers. A hierarchical value map, indicating motivational structures for farm shop purchase of IP-labelled apples, is presented. IP-apple buyers pursue typical values, with health being paramount. The findings reveal interactions between market channel characteristics and product attributes, including characteristics that refer to production methods. Also, the study shows how outlet choice influences the perception and the motivation structure of the respondents for the specific product, fresh fruit in this case. From the findings, two sets of implications are set forth. First, marketing implications pertaining to advertising through the application of the "Means-End Conceptualization of the Components of Advertising Strategy" or MECCAS model. Second, implications to producers with respect to adapting their production methods to the needs and wants of the present end consumers.

Advertising↗
PubMed2002

What does voluntary disenrollment from Medicare+Choice plans mean to beneficiaries?

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 required CMS to report publicly Medicare managed care (MMC) plan voluntary disenrollment rates. To ensure disenrollment rates would be meaningful to beneficiaries in health plan choice, CMS funded the development of surveys and reporting formats to identify and present the reasons that beneficiaries voluntarily leave plans. Public reporting of reasons on the Medicare Web site began in 2002. We discuss results from extensive audience testing of disenrollment rates and reasons materials. Medicare beneficiaries do not easily understand disenrollment. We also discuss challenges in presenting useful disenrollment information and policy implications for public reporting.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

[Nutrition and health--genetically modified food].

The genetically modified (GM) crops cultivated at present have new properties of benefit to agriculture. It is expected that in the future GM crops will also be cultivated with more complex genetic modifications that are aimed at improving the nutritional and health value to the consumer. The safety assessment of GM foods before market approval is based on a comparison of the characteristics of the GM food with those of the conventional counterpart. Identified differences are thoroughly tested for their toxicological and nutritional consequences. Supplementary modern analytical techniques are being developed for the assessment of future complex GM foods. No cases of adverse health or nutritional effects in consumers have been reported for the existing generation of GM foods. The feasibility of post-market surveillance of (GM) foods, in order to identify small or chronic effects that have not been noticed in the pre-market phase, is being investigated, yet its value should not be overestimated. Surveillance can be informative in case of specific questions concerning certain products as long as the consumer intake is well documented. To this end traceability and labelling systems must be set up.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed2003

The salience of choice for Medicare beneficiaries.

The MedicareChoice program was created to expand choice and encourage beneficiaries to more actively consider the choices they have. This article assesses how "salient" choice is to Medicare beneficiaries. More than half of all Medicare beneficiaries in 2000 reported that they either have never considered their options to join a Medicare HMO or get supplemental coverage (44 percent) or did so last when they first became Medicare eligible (14 percent). Overall, 14 percent of Medicare beneficiaries found choice salient in 2000. Those new to Medicare or forced to switch because their plan left the program were more likely to consider choice, as expected. The multi-variate analysis shows that existing HMO enrollment is most strongly associated with salience of choice and also that this effect operates especially in the individual market. The findings of this research are consistent with the literature in highlighting the limited salience of choice to Medicare beneficiaries and the even more limited extent of actual switching that occurs in that market. There is little reason to believe that choice is more salient now than when the study was done. Policymakers who seek to encourage market-based solutions confront a dilemma: How to create incentives for a choice that most beneficiaries do not find particularly salient.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

[Evaluation of a state social program including a nutritional component implemented in the city of Cordoba for the elderly. 1999].

Actually the nutrition programmes had become into a fundamental resource for people living in low social conditions, to cover their feeding requires. The elderly retired persons with high socio-economic vulnerability are the direct beneficiaries of a social programme that includes a nutritional intervention executed by the PAMI. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the ProBienestar programme at Córdoba Capital city during 1999. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Descriptive and transversal study. TARGET GROUP: Older aged persons from 60 years old or more (n = 330) and assistance units (n = 26) TECHNIQUES: Survey observation VARIABLES: Focal criterions, accessibility, food assistance nutritional quality, socio-economic status, nutrition specialists participation, beneficiaries satisfaction assessed into the following dimensions "satisfaction with the including requirements", "food assistance regularity", "adjustment to the beneficiaries food consumption standard", "food quality". RESULTS: The beneficiaries are between 60 and 74 years aged; most of them are widows and separated women that live with their sons or/and daughters or/and grandchildren. The most are owners of the house they live in. There is a different opinion between beneficiaries and assistance units' responsible at the moment of establish the including criterions. The food assistance is regular and geographic and administrative accessible. There is some difficult by the way of the older aged beneficiaries to recall the food aid boxes. The nutritional quality of the complement for one-person box was assessed as good, while for the two-persons boxes the quality downs. It is adequate to the food consumption standard of the older aged beneficiaries. CONCLUSION: The satisfaction degree of the beneficiaries is high. (73%).

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Pick and mix.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed2003

Using discrete choice experiments to value health care programmes: current practice and future research reflections.

There has been growing interest in discrete choice experiments (DCEs) in health economics over the last few years. This paper identifies and describes applications conducted during 1990-2000. From this basis some important areas for future research are reflected upon. These include: having a better understanding of how respondents interpret price, risk and time attributes; strengthening designs and analysis; investigating decision making heuristics employed when completing DCEs, and the extent these are related to the complexity of the task; external validity, reliability and generalisability. Collaborative work with statistical design experts, psychologists, sociologists and qualitative researchers will prove useful when investigating these issues. It is also critical to link, more generally, the research agenda to work being carried out in marketing, transport and environmental economics and health economics benefit assessment.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1992

The effect of the illness episode approach on Medicare beneficiaries' health insurance decisions.

This article reports on a quasi-experimental test of the Illness Episode Approach (IEA), a new approach to providing Medicare beneficiaries with information about the financial consequences of alternative health care coverage decisions. Beneficiaries were randomly assigned to free, three-hour workshops, half using materials developed through application of the IEA, half using traditional comparative information on insurance options. Analysis of data collected before and after the workshops indicates that participants in the Illness Episode sessions were more likely to drop duplicative coverage, to spend less on premiums, and to report that their decisions to change coverage had met their expectations. The entire sample of workshop participants showed significant increases in knowledge of Medicare and their own insurance, as well as improved satisfaction with the cost of their health care coverage.

Aged↗