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Co-payments, Demand, and the Price Elasticity of Emergency Care: A Theoretical Analysis of Ireland's 2004 A&E Attendance Charge
Did the introduction of the €60 A&E attendance charge in 2004 causally reduce emergency department attendances among self-referring patients in Ireland?
Click on the web icon to visit the website for an interactive detailed report !
The problem: Ireland's 2004 €60 A&E charge was designed to reduce inappropriate emergency attendance — but does standard demand theory actually support co-payments as a tool for managing emergency care?
Economic analysis: Microeconomic framework applying price elasticity theory, moral hazard, and substitution effects to the Irish co-payment context, with critical engagement with Walsh et al. (2019) and the RAND Health Insurance Experiment evidence.
TL;DR: Theory predicts co-payments reduce demand — but emergency care has structurally low price elasticity, PHI absorbs the charge for insured patients, and the main behavioural response is pathway substitution rather than demand reduction.
