Date of Conferral
2018
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Psychology
Advisor
Monny Sklov
Abstract
Age, salary, family status, and health status are reported to be linked to high deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollment for pre-Affordable Care Act (ACA) health plans. There has been little research on HDHP enrollment post-ACA. This study quantitatively examined the demographic variables and attitude toward risk that contribute to enrollment in a HDHP that conforms to the ACA minimum essential coverage standards. Risk taking was measured by the Domain Specific Risk Taking Scale. Other independent variables were participant age, annual salary, employee status, enrollment tier, and gender. There were 144 participants recruited from the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform who participated in the research survey. The results of binary logistic regression analysis indicated that age and the presence of children on coverage predict HDHP enrollment. Older employees and employees with at least 1 child on coverage are less likely to enroll in a HDHP. As almost 40% of adults in the United States are covered under a HDHP and this number is expected to increase, it is important to determine the factors related to HDHP enrollment. By identifying the factors related to HDHP enrollment, better educational materials may be developed for employees related to the complex and often confusing insurance decision-making process thus supporting positive social change in the health insurance industry.
Recommended Citation
Gage, Stephen, "The Relationship Among Demographics and Risk Attitude in Predicting Health Plan Enrollment" (2018). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 5556.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5556
