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Do doctors charge high income patients more?

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  • Johar, Meliyanni

Abstract

When doctors are unconstrained in setting fees, they charge higher fees to high income patients. For a standard GP consultation, the average fee gap is 25% of a minimum price. Competition closes this gap, but not local area income.

Suggested Citation

  • Johar, Meliyanni, 2012. "Do doctors charge high income patients more?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 596-599.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:117:y:2012:i:3:p:596-599
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.07.024
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Terence Chai Cheng & Anthony Scott & Sung-Hee Jeon & Guyonne Kalb & John Humphreys & Catherine Joyce, 2010. "What Factors Influence the Earnings of GPs and Medical Specialists in Australia? Evidence from the MABEL Survey," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2010n12, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    6. McGuire, Thomas G., 2000. "Physician agency," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 461-536, Elsevier.
    7. Erik Magnus Sæther, 2005. "Physicians’ Labour Supply: The Wage Impact on Hours and Practice Combinations," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(4), pages 673-703, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hugh Gravelle & Anthony Scott & Peter Sivey & Jongsay Yong, 2016. "Competition, prices and quality in the market for physician consultations," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 135-169, March.
    2. Anthony Scott & Peter Sivey, 2022. "Motivation and competition in health care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1695-1712, August.
    3. Meliyanni Johar & Glenn Jones & Elizabeth Savage, 2014. "What Explains The Quality And Price Of Gp Services? An Investigation Using Linked Survey And Administrative Data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(9), pages 1115-1133, September.
    4. Denzil G. Fiebig & Kees van Gool & Jane Hall & Chunzhou Mu, 2021. "Health care use in response to health shocks: Does socio‐economic status matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(12), pages 3032-3050, December.
    5. Anthony Scott, 2018. "Pump Up the Volume: Making Health and Wellbeing the Centre Stage of Economic Growth," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(2), pages 247-252, June.
    6. Benjamin Montmartin & Mathieu Escot, 2017. "Local Competition and Physicians’ Pricing Decisions: New Evidence from France," GREDEG Working Papers 2017-31, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    7. Hua, Xinyang & Erreygers, Guido & Chalmers, John & Laba, Tracey-Lea & Clarke, Philip, 2017. "Using administrative data to look at changes in the level and distribution of out-of-pocket medical expenditure: An example using Medicare data from Australia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(4), pages 426-433.
    8. Chun Yee Wong & Jessica Greene & Xenia Dolja‐Gore & Kees van Gool, 2017. "The Rise and Fall in Out‐of‐Pocket Costs in Australia: An Analysis of the Strengthening Medicare Reforms," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(8), pages 962-979, August.
    9. Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah & van Gool, Kees & Hall, Jane, 2020. "Inequity in physician visits: the case of the unregulated fee market in Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    10. Michael R. Richards & Sebastian Tello‐Trillo, 2021. "Private coverage mandates, business cycles, and provider treatment intensity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1200-1221, May.
    11. Benjamin Montmartin & Marcos Herrera-Gomez, 2022. "Imitative Pricing: The Importance of Neighborhood Effects in Physicians' Consultation Prices," GREDEG Working Papers 2022-02, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    12. Meliyanni Johar & Chunzhou Mu & Kees Van Gool & Chun Yee Wong, 2017. "Bleeding Hearts, Profiteers, or Both: Specialist Physician Fees in an Unregulated Market," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 528-535, April.
    13. Donald J. Wright, 2013. "An Equilibrium Model of General Practitioner Payment Schemes," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(286), pages 287-299, September.
    14. Montmartin, Benjamin & Herrera-Gómez, Marcos, 2023. "Spatial dependence in physicians’ prices and additional fees: Evidence from France," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Meliyanni Johar, 2017. "The Evolution of Out-of-Hospital Medical Costs to and through Retirement," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 36(1), pages 17-31, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Doctor fee; Competition; Fee gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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