Why Health Costs Spiral: The Case of Emergency Department Regulation

Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 6-15, Summer 2006

Posted: 2 Jan 2008

See all articles by Christopher Westley

Christopher Westley

Florida Gulf Coast University

Ben Boozer

Jacksonville State University (Florida)

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the effect of hospital emergency department regulations on overall health costs using microeconomic tools of analysis. We find that regulations that have price ceiling effects create an upward pressure on prices in other areas of the health care market as hospitals and health care providers seek to compensate for their losses in emergency department operation.

Keywords: health care, health economics

JEL Classification: I10, I11, I18

Suggested Citation

Westley, Christopher and Boozer, Ben, Why Health Costs Spiral: The Case of Emergency Department Regulation. Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 6-15, Summer 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1079691

Christopher Westley (Contact Author)

Florida Gulf Coast University ( email )

10485 FGCU Blvd S
Ft. Myers, FL 33965-6565
United States

Ben Boozer

Jacksonville State University (Florida) ( email )

11901 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32246
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
505
PlumX Metrics