Physicians Affect the Cost of Medical Care Through Their Fees

Physicians affect the cost of medical care through their fees. Expenditures on physicians' services rose more rapidly than any other medical expenditure category in the 1980s and 1990s. Factors that have led to rising physicians' fees include all of the following except:

A) an increase in demand relative to the supply of certain types of physicians.
B) ability of physicians to restrict price competition.
C) government setting many of the physicians' fees.
D) the cost of malpractice insurance.
E) decrease in supply of physicians.