Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006;84(1):37-73.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2006.00438.x.

Can limiting choice increase social welfare? The elderly and health insurance

Affiliations

Can limiting choice increase social welfare? The elderly and health insurance

Yaniv Hanoch et al. Milbank Q. 2006.

Abstract

Herbert Simon's work on bounded rationality has had little impact on health policy discourse, despite numerous supportive findings. This is particularly surprising in regard to the elderly, a group marked by a decline in higher cognitive functions. Elders' cognitive capacity to make decisions will be challenged even further with the introduction of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit program, mainly because of the many options available. At the same time, a growing body of evidence points to the perils of having too many choices. By combining research from decision science, economics, and psychology, we highlight the potential problems with the expanding health insurance choices facing the elderly and conclude with some policy suggestions to alleviate the problem.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

figure 1
figure 1
Health Insurance Decisions Facing the Elderly

References

    1. Aldridge MD. Writing and Designing Readable Patient Education Materials. Nephrology Nursing Journal. 2004;31:373–80. - PubMed
    1. Baker H, Uus K, Bamford J, Marteau T. Increasing Knowledge about a Screening Test: Preliminary Evaluation of a Structured, Chart-Based, Screener Presentation. Patient Education and Counseling. 2004;52:55–59. - PubMed
    1. Baltes PB, Staudinger UM, Lindenberger U. Lifespan Psychology: Theory and Application to Intellectual Functioning. Annual Review of Psychology. 1999;50:471–507. - PubMed
    1. Bearden WO, Mason JB. Elderly Use of In-Store Information Sources and Dimensions of Product Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction. Journal of Retailing. 1979;55:79–91.
    1. Beattie J, Baron J, Hershey JC, Spranca M. Determinants of Decision Attitude. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 1994;7:129–44.

Publication types