Health disparities and direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products

Abstract

Health information drives crucial consumer health decisions and plays a central role in healthcare markets. Consumers who are better-informed about smoking, diet, and physical activity make healthier choices outside the healthcare sector (Kenkel, 1991; Ippolito & Mathios, 1990, 1995; Meara, 2001). Better-informed consumers also interact differently with physicians and other healthcare providers (e.g., Cutler, Landrum, & Stewart, 2006). In addition to the immediate consequences for individual consumers, health economists have long recognized that information also has broader implications for principal–agent relationships and the functioning of healthcare markets.¹ More recent lines of research in health economics and medical sociology emphasize the potential role of consumer information in explaining health disparities associated with socioeconomic status (Deaton, 2002; Goldman & Lakdawalla, 2001; Glied & Lleras-Muney, 2003; Link & Phelan, 1995). Both health economists and medical sociologists stress that because of disparities in consumer information, rapid medical progress tends to be accompanied by increased disparities in medical treatment and health outcomes.

Citation

Avery, R.J., Kenkel, D., Lillard, D.R., Mathios, A. and Wang, H. (2008), "Health disparities and direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products", Helmchen, L., Kaestner, R. and Lo Sasso, A. (Ed.) Beyond Health Insurance: Public Policy to Improve Health (Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0731-2199(08)19004-5