The welfare effects of restricted hospital choice in the US medical care market
By: Katherine Ho.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11819; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11819.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Hospitals -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Managed care plans (Medical care) -- Economic aspects -- United States.
Description: "Managed care health insurers in the US restrict their enrollees' choice of hospitals to within specific networks.  This paper considers the implications of these restrictions.  A three-step econometric model is used to predict consumer preferences over health plans conditional on the hospitals they offer.  The results indicate that consumers place a positive and significant weight on their expected utility from the hospital network when choosing plans.  A welfare analysis, assuming fixed prices, implies that restricting consumers' choice of hospitals leads to a loss to society of approximately $1 billion per year across the 43 US markets considered.  This figure may be outweighed by the price reductions generated by the restriction"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Also available in print.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.