Are consumers that are enrolled in consumer directed health plans more likely to seek out health information on their own?

Consumer directed health plans (CDHP), which include a high deductible health plan and a health savings account (HSA) or health reimbursement account (HRA), have become increasingly popular over the past few decades. Proponents of these plans contend that, by making consumers increasingly cost-conscious, they will take the initiative to find information on health, medical pricing, and alternative procedures in order to educate themselves about prevention. Opponents of such plans contend that they increase the vulnerability of patients and high deductibles in such plans may deter patients from seeking preventive care. Using the 2012 Massachusetts Health Reform Survey I attempt to investigate if enrollees in high deductible health plans are more likely to seek out health information on medical prices, healthy living, alternative medicines, etc. thereby taking more responsibility for their health. My result was that I had no result. After thorough econometric analysis I was not able to obtain any significant variables, which shows that the variables that were included in my model were not able to explain why people enrolled in HDHPs. Various missing socioeconomic variables along with other factors help explain my result of no result