Workers Shrugging Off Health

A new study shows few Americans consider health-care a priority in their lives.

While a growing number of small employers are shifting the onus of health-care coverage back to individual workers, a new study shows few Americans place a high value on their health-care choices.

In a survey of 4,000 consumers by Ketchum Global
Research Network, a New York-based marketing firm, as many as one in three didn't consider health care a driving force in their lives. As such, many were unlikely to visit a doctor on a regular basis. Among all respondents, less than 15 percent said they went to medical professionals for health-related information.

"Knowing their health 'hot buttons' and how to engage them in health and wellness behaviors is critically important," Nancy Hicks, a senior vice president and associate director at Ketchum North America Healthcare, said in a statement.

According to the National Coalition on Health Care, about a third of U.S. employers didn't offer health-care coverage in 2006, while less than 60 percent of all U.S. workers had employment-based health insurance.