Online Health Information Seeking Behavior, Healthcare Access, and Health Status During Exceptional Times

Abstract

Online health information seeking behavior (e-HISB) is becoming increasingly common and the trend has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when individuals strongly relied upon the Internet to stay informed by becoming exposed to a wider array of health information. Despite e-HISB having become a global trend, very few empirical investigations have analyzed its potential impact on healthcare access and individuals’ health status. In this paper, we try to fill this gap. We use data from the second SHARE Corona Survey and estimate a recursive model of e-HISB, healthcare access, and individuals’ health status that accounts for individuals’ unobserved heterogeneity. The most interesting result concerns the e-HISB indirect effect on individuals’ poor health through healthcare access, that is positive. Arguably, patients use information from the Internet to cope with their perceived vulnerability to illness, but they lack the ability to understand the medical information: an incorrect self-diagnosis may increase the likelihood of doctor visits for them, which, in turn, also increases the likelihood of perceiving a poor health status.

Note:

Funding Information: None.

Conflict of Interests: None of the authors have actual or potential conflict of interest. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication.

Keywords: health information seeking behavior, healthcare access, health status

JEL Classification: I10, I12