Measuring Consumer Valuation of Limited Provider Networks

NBER Working Paper No. 20812

Issued in December 2014

NBER Program(s):Economics of Aging, Health Care, Health Economics, Industrial Organization



We measure provider coverage networks for plans on the Massachusetts health insurance exchange using a two measures: consumer surplus from a hospital demand system and the fraction of population hospital admissions that would be covered by the network. The two measures are highly correlated, and show a wide range of networks available to consumers. We then estimate consumer willingness-to-pay for network breadth, which varies by age. 60-year-olds value the broadest network approximately $1200-1400/year more than the narrowest network, while 30-year-olds value it about half as much. Consumers place additional value on star hospitals, and there is significant geographic heterogeneity in the value of network breadth.

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Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w20812

Published: Keith Marzilli Ericson & Amanda Starc, 2015. "Measuring Consumer Valuation of Limited Provider Networks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 115-19, May. citation courtesy of

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