Better Informed, But in Denial: More people today are going beyond their
doctor to seek health care information, according to a National Business Group
on Health survey published in December. The survey, conducted by the business
group and market research firm Matthew Greenwald and Associates, asked how
people make health care decisions.
The results could help employers give employees access to reliable medical
information, said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on
Health. Darling said she was “pleasantly surprised” by how much more informed
the respondents were about medical issues. In the past two years, 72 percent of
the 1,558 respondents said they turned to a doctor for health information. The
second most popular source for health information was the Internet, especially
among younger employees, followed by health plans, family and friends, news
articles and drug package inserts. Employers, at 54 percent, were the least
popular source for health information.
Nonetheless, respondents said the information they obtained was difficult to
understand, and most people had not seen any information that compared health
care providers, making it likely that they would not take the steps needed to
improve their health. In fact, according to the survey, most people were sicker
than they were willing to acknowledge. Forty-eight percent of respondents
described themselves in good health, and only 11 percent said they were in poor
health. However, 55 percent had been taking a prescription drug for three or
more months. Fifty-six percent had seen a doctor three or more times for the
same condition in the same year, and half had a chronic illness.
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