Price and Income Elasticities for Medical Care Services
ResearchPublished 1974
Presents a theory of the demand for medical care services that is a generalization of Michael Grossman's investment model in three ways: Medical care is not treated as a homogeneous commodity but disaggregated to hospital and physician services; the price of the provider selected and medical insurance are treated as endogenous; and variation in price per unit of services among providers is allowed for and explained. Preliminary estimates of price and income elasticities are presented using data on heads of families in the labor force from the 1963 Center for Health Administration Studies survey. These data show price elasticities to be on the order of -0.15 for hospital length of stay and physician visits and wage income elasticities to be near zero.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web Only
- Year: 1974
- Pages: 41
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/pubs
- Document Number: R-1197-NC/OEO
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Newhouse, Joseph P. and Charles E. Phelps, Price and Income Elasticities for Medical Care Services, RAND Corporation, R-1197-NC/OEO, 1974. As of July 10, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R1197.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Newhouse, Joseph P. and Charles E. Phelps, Price and Income Elasticities for Medical Care Services. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1974. https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R1197.html.
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