Cost of Health Care and Utilization of Emergency Departments in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between some diseases /accidents and emergency department visits. Turkey implemented a series of healthcare reforms aimed at providing healthcare services less expensive and easily accessible to citizens. I study the impact of providing free emergency care services to the patients in Turkey regardless of their insurance status on utilization of emergency departments at hospitals. Using a Blinder-Oaxaca method, I observe that coefficients explain more than 100 % of the difference and that patients regardless of health concern visit emergency departments. I also find that emergency care visits for all insurance types increased after the policy change in 2008 by about 5 %

Keywords:

Free Emergency Department Visits, Emergency Department Utilization, Diseases and Accidents Blinder-Oaxaca,

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