Do Physicians Respond to the Costs and Cost-Sensitivity of Their Patients?
利用12家财富500强企业员工首次使用他汀类药物的数据，研究发现共付额差异对药物选择影响很小，但专利到期后处方显著增加，尤其对低收入患者，表明医生能感知患者价格敏感性但仅对大规模价格变化有反应。
We use individual level data on purchases of cholesterol-lowering drugs to study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs. In a sample of first-time statin prescriptions to employees from 12 Fortune 500 firms, we find that co-pay variation across plans has a small effect on the choice of drug, and this effect does not vary with patient income. After the highly publicized patent expiration of Zocor, however, prescriptions for this drug increased substantially, especially for lower income patients. Our analysis suggests that physicians can perceive the price sensitivity of their patients and adjust their initial prescriptions accordingly, but only in response to a large and universal price change.