Would greater transparency and uniformity of health care prices benefit poor patients?
Journal Article (Journal Article)
President Bush, the World Health Organization, and leading scholars have called for greater price transparency in health care. Prices are transparent when the buyer knows his or her price or knows prices paid by others, in advance. Transparent prices inform consumers of expected costs and reveal when sellers are charging high prices to poor people. Under some conditions, however, price transparency can increase prices paid by the poor, deter business entry in poor markets, reduce competition, lower investment, and mislead if inaccurately measured by a third party. We recommend alternative approaches to lowering prices for the poor and increasing efficiency.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Kyle, MK; Ridley, DB
Published Date
- September 2007
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 26 / 5
Start / End Page
- 1384 - 1391
PubMed ID
- 17848449
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1544-5208
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0278-2715
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1377/hlthaff.26.5.1384
Language
- eng