Tapering effect on public health services

Tapering effect refers to weakening of the benefits obtained from public goods or the diminishing status due to the geographical distance. The tapering effect has a significant impact on public goods. The place where the urbanization takes place this situation arises more. Urbanization spread in geographical places where the access to public goods and services offered is also different depending on the certain regions where people living. Differentiating access transform to a function in the utilization of public good according to geographical distance. At this point, an important question arises. If the distance being acting as a function in the provision of public goods, the level of taxation in the case of distance can be addressed as a function perhaps associated with derived benefits? The aim of this study is to analyze whether the public health services by those who benefit from the health care can be perceived as a function or not in geographical distance particularity and the identification of factors that may affect it, and whether the distance can be evaluated as a function at the taxation level. The study was conducted as a survey on the academic staff working in Dumlupınar University. The binary logistic regression analysis and chi-square test were used as methods of analysis. According to binary logistic regression analysis, the study achieved the following key results: For people where the place of residence is far from the public hospitals comparing to people close to them, 1,545 times more the degree of benefits from the offered services from the public hospitals decrease because of distance from the public hospitals. The more time spent on transport for people compared to less spent, the degree of benefit from the offered services because of the distance from the public hospital decrease 1,212 times more. The people expressing the opinion that the distance of the place of residence to the public hospitals increase the cost compared to people expressing no cost increase, the degree of benefit from the offered services because of distance from the public hospitals decrease 2,826 times more. According to chi-square test result, the people thinking that the decrease in the benefits because of the distance of the place of residence to the public hospital that is people under tapering effect think that the geographical distance factor must be considered in the calculation of taxes paid during the addition of public service financing depending on this situation. Keywords: Tapering Effect, Public Health Services, Binary Logistic Regression, Chi-Square Test.