Three Of Four Americans Want More Information To Compare Doctors, Hospitals

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 23 Nov 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Most Americans are happy with their doctor or physician - but a clear majority also say they would like more information when choosing a health care provider. Three out of four Americans (74 percent) say that they wish they had better information to help them choose a doctor or hospital.

The poll, sponsored by The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company , found that the desire for more information is particularly strong among Americans earning $35,000 to $75,000 per year. Out of those middle-income households, 77 percent said they wished they had better information to help choose a doctor or hospital.

As a subsidiary of HealthMarkets, MEGA is a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses.

More than half (56 percent) think their regular doctor provides them with above average care. Only 3 percent say below average. Hospitals drew similarly high marks. Out of those with personal or family experience in a hospital in the past five years, more than half (54 percent) say the care provided was above average. Only 9 percent said below average.

"Most patients clearly think highly of their doctor or hospital," said Peter Gaillard, HealthMarkets Vice President of Product Development. "At the same time, there's a strong desire for more and better information. That's why at MEGA we are rolling out plans that provide informational tools to help consumers make health care decisions."

Certain MEGA plans also offer consumers a range of online healthcare information and tools from WebMD (http://www.webmdhealthservices.com). This information can help a consumer to compare hospitals, for example. They can see a profile that offers ratings on patient safety practices, the number of times a hospital has performed a given procedure and whether complication rates have been above or below average.

The poll found that the most important factors in judging hospitals are respondents' own observations about how the hospital treats patients (79 percent said this was very important), the hospital's history of mistakes (78 said this was very important), and how often it has performed a procedure (68 percent said this was very important).

The most important factors in choosing a doctor are his or her ability to clearly explain things, a respondent's own experience with the physician, whether the physician is board certified and whether the doctor has been disciplined by a hospital or government agency. Slightly less important are whether a doctor is part of the respondent's insurance network and whether the doctor has been sued for malpractice. Less important were recommendations, location and credentials.

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted among a sample of 1,043 adults (530 men and 513 women) 18 years of age and older, in the continental United States. Interviews were weighted by four variables: age, sex, geographic region, and race, to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total adult population. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for the entire sample. Smaller sub-groups will have larger error margins.

About The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company

The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company is an insurance company domiciled in Oklahoma and licensed to issue health, life and annuity policies in all states except New York. The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HealthMarkets, Inc.

About HealthMarkets

HealthMarkets, headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, is a provider of health and life insurance products to individuals, families, the self-employed and small businesses. HealthMarkets offers products and services through its subsidiaries: The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company. The Company's offerings include individual and self-employed health insurance, small employer group health insurance, life insurance and reinsurance. Through its Consumer Guided Health Insurance plans, HealthMarkets seeks to provide affordable and accessible health coverage to individuals and small businesses. The Company is owned by a group of private equity investors, including The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, members of management and the Company's dedicated, licensed agents through the Company's agent stock accumulation plans.

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Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential" and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions; the continued ability of HealthMarkets (the "Company") to compete for customers and insureds in an industry in which many of its competitors may have greater market share and/or greater financial resources; the Company's ability to accurately estimate medical claims and control costs; changes in government regulation that could increase the costs of compliance or cause the Company to discontinue marketing its products in certain states; the Company's failure to comply with new or existing government regulations that could subject it to significant fines and penalties; changes in the relationship between the Company and the membership associations and/or changes in the laws and regulations governing so-called "association group" insurance (particularly changes that would subject the issuance of policies to prior premium rate approval and/or require the issuance of policies on a "guaranteed issue" basis); significant liabilities and costs associated with litigation; failure of the Company's information systems to provide timely and accurate information; negative publicity regarding the Company's business practices and/or regarding the health insurance industry in general; the Company's inability to enter into or maintain satisfactory relationships with networks of hospitals, physicians, dentists, pharmacies and other health care providers; failure of the Company's regulated insurance company subsidiaries to maintain their current ratings by A.M. Best Company, Fitch and/or Standard & Poor's; and the other risk factors set forth in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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