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Who Receives Medical Care?: Income, Implicit Prices, and the Distribution of Medical Services among Pregnant Women in the United States

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  • Mark R. Rosenzweig
  • T. Paul Schultz

Abstract

The distribution of medical services among pregnant married women in the United States in 1980 is very unequal. This distribution is examined to assess the predominant effect of tax, transfer, and insurance schemes on the implicit prices of medical services facing women differing by socioeconomic status, healthiness and race. Estimates of the determinants of the probability of receiving four major prenatal medical services are obtained, controlling both for socioeconomic status and for initial health status, as inferred from estimates of health technology determining birthweight. Results reject the hypotheses that medical services are provided only on the basis of medical need or are allocated in a market in which the implicit price of care is invariant to husband's income. The combined effect of taxes and transfers is found to reduce the implicit price paid for these four medical services by rich compared to poor married women in the United States, and thus to encourage their use by higher income (and education) groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark R. Rosenzweig & T. Paul Schultz, 1991. "Who Receives Medical Care?: Income, Implicit Prices, and the Distribution of Medical Services among Pregnant Women in the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(3), pages 473-508.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:26:y:1991:i:3:p:473-508
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    Cited by:

    1. Shao-Hsun Keng & Wallace Huffman, 2010. "Binge drinking and labor market success: a longitudinal study on young people," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 303-322, January.
    2. Michael Grossman, 1999. "The Human Capital Model of the Demand for Health," NBER Working Papers 7078, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Grimard, Franque & Parent, Daniel, 2007. "Education and smoking: Were Vietnam war draft avoiders also more likely to avoid smoking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 896-926, September.
    4. Neha Kumra, 2017. "Childhood health and educational investment under risk," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Ozdamar, Oznur & Giovanis, Eleftherios, 2016. "Being Healthy in Turkey: A Pseudo-Panel Data Analysis," MPRA Paper 95838, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Helena Vychová & Jan Mertl, 2009. "Vazby vzdělání a zdraví v kontextu ekonomického rozvoje [Relationships of education and health in the context of economic development]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(1), pages 58-78.
    7. Jennifer Kane & S. Morgan & Kathleen Harris & David Guilkey, 2013. "The Educational Consequences of Teen Childbearing," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(6), pages 2129-2150, December.
    8. Lindelow, Magnus, 2004. "Sometimes more equal than others : how health inequalities depend on the choice of welfare indicator," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3329, The World Bank.
    9. Magnus Lindelow, 2004. "Sometimes More Equal than Others How the choice of welfare indicator can affect the measurement of health inequalities and the incidence of public spending," Development and Comp Systems 0409018, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Grossman, Michael, 2004. "The demand for health, 30 years later: a very personal retrospective and prospective reflection," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 629-636, July.
    11. Magnus Lindelow, 2006. "Sometimes more equal than others: how health inequalities depend on the choice of welfare indicator," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 263-279, March.
    12. Sadique, M. Z. & Asadullah, M. N., 2006. "Identifying the effect of public health program on child immunisation in rural Bangladesh," Working Papers 06/06, Department of Economics, City University London.

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