what is the proper role of economics in the study of health and medical care?

Answer 1

There will always be a limited amount of public, private and corporate dollars to be spent on all facets of healthcare. Allocating those scarce resources is what economics is all about.

Answer 2

Everyone assumes the federal government. You didn't specify fed or state. You just say government. That's an important difference. Education = benefits into the future = so many benefits = Costs are outweighed by the benefits and then some = worthwhile endeavor = makes the country prosperous and more secure Health care = The cost of insurance is killing the country. It's hurting business and people. It might be wise for the government to step in so businesses can focus on being more competitive globally. We all need health care. We should focus on prevention. Housing = We all need a place to live. We do have a rising homeless population. It seems unconscionable for a prosperous country to allow people to just be at risk, especially children. Charity is not sufficient. The cost of housing is such a huge burden. It might make sense for the government to step in to make it less of a burden. It's not as if we can increase the land space available. People are a lot more mobile these days. More honest discussions need to start happening in this country and we the people should demand it. The facts are the facts. We should get our priorities in order. Personally, I think we should focus on improving our quality of life. That should be the goal. We should agree on set terms to give everyone greater freedom than they have now. With greater freedom does not mean freedom from responsibility. It means embracing greater responsibility but in order to embrace greater responsibility, the population needs an adequate education so they have the tools that they need. I have a lot of faith in humanity. Everyone is different. Everyone has something to offer. We definitely do not do enough, especially when it comes to understanding and offering help for the mentally ill. Society is not perfect. People should not be punished for things they have absolutely no control over. It's cruel. We put ourselves at risk. How many people have been murdered?

Answer 3

since all healthcare providers wish to receive a paycheck and because all those shiny new medical machines come with a hefty pricetag, the money has to come from somewhere. Figuring out ways to get money is a huge challenge. Most of the patients that seek medical care where I work are "self-pay" meaning no insurance and no medicare or medicaid. That for us means they pay nothing. The hospital can barely keep it's doors open without bailouts from the state. To make matters worse we are a teaching hospital which means that all sorts of residents and interns get paychecks and free food and use whatever hospital resources they want.

Answer 4

It is not too clear what you mean by "the proper role". If you mean what role can the methods and ideas of Economics play in improving our health and medical care, then part of the answer is the following:

1) One role is simply doing a cost benefit analysis of health services questions. For example, Should we have all people screened for lung cancer every year? To anser that question we have to compare the cost of such screenings, both to the governemnt and to the people who stope making money when they go to their screening, with the benefit, whether becaous of lower treatment costs, or longer average productive lives of our citizens, or more awareness of cancer in general and so on. Another important cost and benefit analysis that economists are involved in doing is that of state provided free health care and privately provided health services. The cost to society of having everybody go through an insurance company and select a plan and so on might be huge, but the cost to society of people who neglect ehir health because healthcare is free might also be huge. Economists have some tools that let us improve out understanding of these problems.

2) Another role is in desigining incentive structures that make sense in the medical industry. For example, how do we penalize doctors who make mistakes? Should we force doctors to separate the diagnosis of a patient with the operation of a patient? How do me regulate the medical boards of hospitas so that they take good decisions? A very important set of issues which economics can illuminate have to do with the medical insurance business. Economists can model human behavior to find combinations of deductibles, premiums, copayments and so on that let people have usefull insurance while avoiding superfluous claims and abuse of the system, making patients excercise substancial effort in taking care of themselves, but making sure too that there is a wide and accessible safety net for everybody.

3) A third are of interest is that of economic development and health. Economists have estimated the relationship between the health of an economies citizens and its capacity to become more productive and adapt to changing circumstances better.