Rising Health Care Costs Create New Nursing Trends: Consumerism

It’s often said, “Americans want the best healthcare someone else will pay for.” Yet as health care costs spiral out of control, individual Americans are paying more and more out of pocket for their health care, as employees have to contribute more to their health insurance costs, and co-pays and deductibles rise. As benefits decrease, patients, employers, and insurance companies are all searching for ways to combat this economic crisis.

What is Consumerism?

We have moved as a nation from being “patients” receiving health care to being “consumers.” Americans, of course, have long been savvy consumers of services—consumerism has been on the upswing across all sectors, including health care. Consumerism is defined as “a movement seeking to protect the rights of consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging, labeling, and advertising, fair pricing, and improved safety standards." Consumerism in health care is based on the idea that individuals—not doctors or insurance companies—should have greater control over the decisions about their health care.

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