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Consumers and Competition in Health Care: The Case of Denturism
Author(s) -
KUSHMAN JOHN E.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00316.x
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , order (exchange) , public economics , government (linguistics) , value (mathematics) , business , dentures , health care , public health , economics , marketing , economic growth , finance , medicine , nursing , dentistry , machine learning , computer science , biology , ecology , linguistics , philosophy
Denturism is the making and fitting of dentures directly for the public by nondentists. It is an example of potential competitive entry in a health services market and, like other such examples, its economic benefits must be weighed against any threat to the public health and safety. This article examines evidence relating to the economic benefits to consumers of legalizing denturism. Conservative estimates are presented of the economic benefits to consumers that would accrue under alternative institutional arrangements. Under several such arrangements it was found that the value of benefits is of the same order of magnitude as total government expenditures on dental services.