Table 1.
Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Clinical Preventive Services and Guidelines, US Adults, 2013 (n = 1,794)
| Self‐Reported Knowledge | Percentage Yes (n) |
| Heard of type of health care services called clinical preventive services | |
| Yes | 19.6% (350) |
| No | 58.1% (1,043) |
| Not sure | 22.0% (401) |
| Would rate current understanding of clinical preventive services as | |
| Excellent | 1.2% (22) |
| Very good | 4.1% (73) |
| Good | 9.9% (178) |
| Fair | 11.6% (207) |
| Poor | 13.7% (245) |
| Had not heard of before | 59.5% (1,068) |
| Heard of the US Preventive Services Task Force | 7.7% (139) |
| Knew that Affordable Care Act requires most insurance companies to cover many preventive services without copay or other cost sharing | 36.4% (653) |
| Attitudes After Reading a Description of USPSTF | Percentage Strongly Agree/Agree (n) |
| It is important for health care providers to follow guidelines when they are advising patients about clinical preventive services. | 53.4% (958) |
| Research should be the most important thing in making guidelines for clinical preventive services. | 50.6% (908) |
| The government uses guidelines to ration health care in public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. | 38.2% (685) |
| I trust that a government task force will make good and fair guidelines for clinical preventive services. | 32.6% (585) |
| Insurance plans should not pay for health care services that have not been shown to be effective through research. | 28.7% (516) |
| Insurance plans should only cover clinical preventive services that are recommended by guidelines. | 21.3% (383) |
| Attitudes Regarding When Guidelines Should Recommend Against | |
| Getting a Type of Clinical Preventive Service | Percentage Strongly Agree/Agree (n) |
| Research shows that getting the service does not make a difference. | 63.9% (1,146) |
| Research shows that potential harms are greater than benefits. | 65.2% (1,179) |
| Experts do not agree on whether or not it is effective. | 47.1% (553) |
| Getting the test causes many people to have to get more tests. | 35.3% (633) |
| The preventive service will cost the patient too much money. | 29.9% (536) |
| The preventive service is for a disease that is very rare. | 27.8% (499) |
| Many people find the test or service unpleasant or painful. | 12.2% (219) |
| The preventive service will cost the insurance company too much. | 10.7% (192) |