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Balance billing: the patients' perspective

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  • Mathias Kifmann
  • Florian Scheuer

Abstract

We study the effects of 'balance billing', i.e., allowing physicians to charge a fee from patients in addition to the fee paid by Medicare. First, we show that on pure efficiency grounds the optimal Medicare fee under balance billing is zero. An active Medicare policy thus can only be justified when distributional concerns are accounted for. Extending the analysis by Glazer and McGuire, we therefore analyze the optimal policy from the patients' point of view. We demonstrate that, from the patients' perspective, a positive fee can be superior under balance billing. Furthermore, patient welfare can be lower if balance billing is prohibited. In particular, this is the case if the administrative costs of Medicare are large. However, we cannot rule out that prohibiting balance billing may be superior. Finally, we show that payer fee discrimination increases patient welfare if Medicare's administrative costs are high or if Medicare's optimal fee under balance billing implies lower quality for fee-only patients. JEL -classification: I11, I18, H51 Copyright Kifmann and Scheuer; licensee Springer. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Kifmann & Florian Scheuer, 2011. "Balance billing: the patients' perspective," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:hecrev:v:1:y:2011:i:1:p:1-14:10.1186/2191-1991-1-14
    DOI: 10.1186/2191-1991-1-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mitchell, Janet B. & Cromwell, Jerry, 1982. "Physician behavior under the medicare assignment option," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 245-264, December.
    2. McKnight, Robin, 2007. "Medicare balance billing restrictions: Impacts on physicians and beneficiaries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 326-341, March.
    3. Glazer, Jacob & Glazer, Jacob & McGuire, Thomas G., 1993. "Should physicians be permitted to 'balance bill' patients?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 239-258, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brigitte Dormont & Mathilde Péron, 2016. "Does Health Insurance Encourage the Rise in Medical Prices? A Test on Balance Billing in France," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1073-1089, September.
    2. Izabela Jelovac, 2015. "Physicians’ balance billing, supplemental insurance and access to health care," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 269-280, June.
    3. Elise Coudin & Anne Pla & Anne‐Laure Samson, 2015. "GP responses to price regulation: evidence from a French nationwide reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1118-1130, September.
    4. Dormont, B. & Péron, M., 2015. "Does health insurance encourage the rise in medical prices?," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/16, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    5. Damien Besancenot & Karine Lamiraud & Radu Vranceanu, 2023. "A model for dual health care market with congestion differentiation," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 400-423, April.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    physician reimbursement; price controls; Medicare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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