Mar
22
2007
The Trust Factor for the Health Insurance Industry
Author: Valeria WeberAccording to a Harris Poll taken in early October, many people favor more regulation of major industries, but this support for stronger regulations varies enormously by industry. One perception strongly linked to the desire for stronger regulation is trust. The more people believe industries to be honest and trustworthy, the less likely they are to want government to regulate them more.
A majority of U.S. adults think that the oil industry (54%) should be more strongly regulated, followed by pharmaceuticals (48%), health insurance (48%), managed care (41%), electric and gas utilities (38%) and tobacco (38%). Less than 10 percent of all adults believe that statements made by companies in these industries are “generally honest and trustworthy.” Tobacco (2%), oil (3%), managed care (4%), health insurance (7%), and pharmaceuticals (7%) are the industries least trusted.
These statistics provide a little food for thought. Of the five industries least trusted by the American public and most in need of regulation, three of them are connected to health care. Tobacco companies have been vilified for years, and have suffered enormous setbacks in highly publicized public interest lawsuits. The price of gas has skyrocketed while the oil companies have reported obscene profits.
But health insurance, managed care and pharmaceuticals have not been under that sort of intense, negative scrutiny with the exception of the drug companies, when the new Medicare medication rules went into effect. And most of the negative coverage was about the rules, not the medications.
It is remarkable that the health insurance industry and its companion business sectors, managed care and drug companies enjoy virtually no trust from the public despite the absence of ongoing high visibility negative news coverage. People have come to their own conclusions about the inherent dishonesty in the relationship between health insurance and managed care.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:07 am
The health insurance industry may well be shooting themselves in the foot as far as their reputation goes, but I think there is also something related to the fact that their business affects people so intimately.
The mere fact that they are dealing with an individual’s health and well-being leads them to be held to a higher standard of conduct and trust by their clientele, in my opinion. Then, when this is perceived to be compromised (deservedly or not), the fallout is severe.