June 2004

Consumers have declining confidence
in pharmaceutical and health insurance companies

Consumers trust their supermarkets to meet their needs, but not pharmaceutical and health insurance companies. According to a recent Harris Interactive healthcare poll, confidence in the abilities of pharmaceutical and health insurance companies to “serve their customers” has declined almost every year since the poll was first taken in 1997.

In this year’s survey, only 44 percent of all adults think the pharmaceutical companies are dong a good job for their consumers. In 1997, fully 79 percent thought the industry was doing a good job. In subsequent years, confidence level continued to fall, until it reached 59 percent in 2000. The level remained virtually unchanged in 2001 and 2003 before plunging again to 49 percent in 2003.

In 1997, 55 percent of respondents thought health insurers were doing a good job. This year, only 36 percent now give these companies good marks.

According to the study, some members of the public see a difference between managed care and health insurance companies, even though virtually all insurance companies now sell managed care. Only 30 percent of the public give managed care companies good marks for meeting the customer’s needs.

The top-rated industry was supermarkets. It received an 87 percent “good job” rating.

The data come from a nationwide Harris Interactive survey of 979 adults.

Source: Harris Interactive, www.harrisinteractive.com

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