business
Consumer confidence in paying for health care stabilizes
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 21, 2011
Patients started to feel better in December 2010 about their ability to pay for medical services, and this trend continued into January, says the Consumer Healthcare Sentiment Index, released Feb. 8 by Thomson Reuters.
The index, created by surveying a representative sample of 3,000 households about the ability to pay for care in the past three months and their belief in being able to do so in the next three, reached 97 in December 2010.
The number was 98 in January after hitting a low of 95 in November 2010. The increase was primarily due to patients feeling like they were going to be more likely to afford health care in the future.
The January Consumer Healthcare Sentiment Index report is available online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/02/21/bibf0221.htm.
