Billing the Doctor for Your Time

Over at the Economix blog, Princeton economics professor Alan B. Krueger applies economic theory to the doctor’s waiting room. He writes about the “opportunity cost” of being a patient.

Any student of Econ 101 knows that economists measure costs by opportunity costs, meaning everything that is given up to get something else. Time spent interacting with the medical system could be used for other activities, such as work and leisure. Moreover, spending time getting medical care is not fun. This time should be counted as part of the cost of health care.

Using the American Time Use Survey, I calculate that Americans age 15 and older collectively spent 847 million hours waiting for medical services to be provided in 2007….. If you count health care-related activities writ large – including time traveling to a doctor, waiting to see a doctor, being examined and treated, taking medication, obtaining medical care for others, and paying bills – the average American spent 1.1 hours per week obtaining health care in 2007.

Read the full column, “A Hidden Cost of Health Care: Patient Time.” What do you think? Should a patient’s time be factored into the cost of health care?