Are General Practitioners Good for Endogenous Supply and Health

Abstract

We investigate the impact of area general practitioner (GP) supply on individual health in England. If no allowance is made for the endogeneity of GP supply, the effect is positive but not statistically significant. When GP supply is instrumented by age related capitation the effect is markedly greater and statistically significant. A 10% increase in GP supply leads to an increase in the proportion of the population reporting very good health by 6% from 36%. The estimated cost per quality adjusted life year gained from an additional GP is between £527 and £5740.