Utilization of Doctors and Emergency Rooms : Implications for Health Care Reform

This empirical paper, conducted with survey data on working age adults from the 2006 Medical Expenditures Panel (MEPS), assesses the determinants of office-based doctor visits and emergency room visits. Office-based doctor services are a “normal good” which increase in demand with income while emergency room services are an “inferior good” which decreases in demand with income. Marriage is associated with more office-based doctor visits and fewer emergency room visits. Some Medicaid patients are highly dependent upon emergency room services while other Medicaid patients may underutilize in-office doctor services given their health status. The successful implementation of health care reform requires an increase in the number of physicians serving lower-income adults who will be added to Medicaid