Do Americans Believe There is an Association Between Health Care Prices and Quality of Care?

A recently published article by the Journal of Health Affairs asked over two thousand adults four questions about the relationship between health care prices and quality. The study found:

Most Americans (58–71 percent, depending on question framing) did not think that price and quality are associated, but a substantial minority did perceive an association (21–24 percent) or were unsure whether there was one (8–16 percent). Responses to questions framed in terms of high price and high quality differed from responses to questions framed in terms of low price and low quality. People who had compared prices were more likely than those who had not compared prices to perceive that price and quality were associated.

The purpose of the study was to try to gauge how consumers will respond to health care price information tools many organizations are currently developing. The concern is that patients may avoid low-price care when making decisions.

Studies like this ignore the most important issue: will patients be spending their own money (as in a high deductible health plan) or mostly someone else’s (as in a low-deductible health plan)? With a high-deductible health plan, the patient will factor in price much more heavily than in a low-deductible plan when the patient is shielded from much of the price difference. So I question the usefulness of these results. 

Do you believe prices are correlated to quality in medical care? Do you comparison shop based on price?