Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
The Emerging Role of Competition in Health Care
Journal of Economic Perspectives
(pp. 3–16)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This essay, commissioned to serve as an introduction to the JEP symposium on current competition in health care, provides a historical perspective on the role of both competition and regulation in the financing and delivery of health services since the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960s. At the beginning of this period, few could perceive a role for competition in healthcare given the key role played by physicians in providing and ordering care and concerns that lower prices might signal lower quality. Initial attempts to slow rapidly rising costs involved various regulatory tools, but over time, regulation increasingly incorporated incentives for providers, to control costs. Competitive approaches began to develop in the late 1970s, in part reflecting broad changes in the nation's political culture. Competitive approaches are now quite widespread, but regulation plays an important role in the structuring of competition and in addressing areas where competition is seen as having less potential.Citation
Ginsburg, Paul B. 2026. "The Emerging Role of Competition in Health Care." Journal of Economic Perspectives 40 (2): 3–16. DOI: 10.1257/jep.20251470Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- G34 Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Voting; Proxy Contests; Corporate Governance
- I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- K21 Antitrust Law