Dr. Betsy Cliff

Biography

Betsy Q. Cliff is a researcher at the University of Chicago, whose work broadly explores how consumers make decisions regarding medical care, particularly focusing on the relationship between price and value, and how these factors affect health care quality and spending patterns. Her primary research agenda centers on how health insurance benefit design can influence spending and utilization of health services. With a background in health services research, she employs a theoretical and methodological approach grounded in economics, primarily utilizing quasi-experimental designs and econometric statistical techniques to measure the effects of various policies and interventions. Her data often derives from large databases of medical and pharmaceutical claims from health insurers. Cliff has led projects addressing the effects of health insurance benefit design on both commercial and Medicaid populations, as well as consumer attitudes towards high-deductible plans and the impacts of interventions that influence the use of high- and low-value health care services. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked as a journalist for a decade, reporting on health care policy for various newspapers and magazines.

Research Interests