If patients are focused entirely on getting well, we should expect them to pay only for treatments whose expected health benefits exceed their costs (whether financial costs, time costs, or opportunity costs). But when there’s another source of demand (i.e., conspicuous caring), then we should expect consumption to rise past the point where treatments are cost-effective, to include treatments with higher costs and lower health benefits. Thus conspicuous care is to some extent excessive care. (There’s another way to look at it, of course, which is that we are getting our money’s worth when we
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