Health plan satisfaction and risk of disenrollment among social/HMO and fee-for-service recipients.

Abstract

Health plan satisfaction among the elderly is affected by multiple individual and locational factors. We used a general behavioral framework of predisposing, enabling, and service use factors to produce adjusted satisfaction scores. These then were included in a logistic analysis to determine the effect of satisfaction on continued membership in social health maintenance organizations (S/HMOs) or continued participation in fee-for-service care. S/HMO members, after one year in the plan, generally reported satisfaction scores comparable to Medicare beneficiaries in fee-for-service care. Satisfaction with perceived physician quality and interpersonal relationships with the providers reduced the risk of disenrollment. Functional impairment reduced the likelihood of disenrollment, but this effect varied by community. Being impaired was protective in communities with established HMOs. In markets where HMOs were emerging or where intensive HMO competition was beginning, disability increased the likelihood of changing current coverage. S/HMO membership, after adjusting for the market area's general disenrollment propensities, had varying effects. Being a newly formed plan was not a consistent predictor of higher disenrollment rates.