01/16/2013
Austin FraktA new paper on the subject is out, by Rachel Reid et al. I’m not going to describe or comment much on it right now because (a) the paper is ungated, (b) the results are not terribly surprising, and (c) I’ve covered a lot about consumers’ response to health plan quality previously.
Suffice it to say, there is a statistically significant and positive correlation between Medicare Advantage plan quality (star) ratings and enrollment. Not unrelated, there’s money on the table.
by Weiwen on January 16th, 2013 at 21:29
Obviously I’m glad it isn’t the other way around! However, does anyone know how reliable the 5 star rating is – for example, are beneficiaries’ health outcomes noticeably better in high-rated plans? Does the star rating adequately adjust for health status? Is average healthcare spending lower in higher-rated plans?
by Austin Frakt on January 17th, 2013 at 06:31
It’s a complex combination of consumer satisfaction and process quality measures. No relation to cost. Some risk adjustment. See http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/all-about-medicare-advantages-star-quality-ratings/
by Peter Mitchell on January 17th, 2013 at 07:41
It would be interesting to know how this compares to other (less rigorous) quality ratings, like the customer star ratings on Amazon. Do random consumers on Amazon have more power than a detailed government evaluation of health plans? Anyone know?
by Weiwen on January 17th, 2013 at 10:25
Thanks!