Patient willingness to pay for preventive measures in primary care: a study of five GPs in a German community.

Objective: To explore the willingness of patients in a usual primary care setting to pay out-of-pocket fees for their own health promotion, in correlation with risk factors and net income, and compared to patients of an educational programme.

Methods: A standardised health survey carried out in five general practices (GPs) of a small community with a special GP-based health education programme was combined with a questionnaire to explore the special attitudes of patients from a practice sample (n = 973) and from educational courses (n = 202): covering, in addition to cardiovascular risk factors, the sociodemographic factors, net income, and out-of-pocket fees that could be spent for own health promotion.

Results: After attending an educational programme, the patient's willingness to spend 15-40 euros/month for their own health promotion was high but there was no correlation with the income (p < 0.