Undergraduate Economic Review
Abstract
The Affordable Care Act states that a primary goal of health care reform should be to lower costs and promote fiscal responsibility. With these two goals in mind, the bill proposes a more primary-care-oriented health system by enacting a 5-year temporary Medicare fee increase for primary care physicians as a means to increase the number of physicians and incentivize more primary care services. Using county and regional level Medicare data, this paper finds that an increase in the number of primary care physicians per capita would reduce per beneficiary Medicare spending and as a consequence, lower national health expenditures substantially.
Recommended Citation
Bricker, Noah
(2015)
"Reducing the Geographic Variance in Medical Expenditures: The Benefits of a Primary-Care-Oriented Health System,"
Undergraduate Economic Review: Vol. 11:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/uer/vol11/iss1/6