TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fuchs,Victor R.
TI  - Has Cost Containment Gone Too Far?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1776
PY  - 1985
Y2  - December 1985
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1776
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1776.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Victor R. Fuchs
796 Cedro Way
Stanford, CA  94305
Tel: 650/326-7639
Fax: 650/328-4163
E-Mail: vfuchs@stanford.edu
AB  - Current cost containment strategies will undoubtedly result in fewer health services for patients. The analytical framework presented in this paper shows how the effects of reductions in services on health and social welfare depend upon the amount and distribution of services(relative to potential benefit) prior to cost containment and on the size and selectivity of the reductions. Disagreement over whether cost containment has gone too far arises from disagreements about the criterion (health or social welfare), the prior distribution, and how selective the reductions will be. In the long run selectivity will be the key to successful cost containment.
ER  -