Microeconomic analysis
Samnang Chhim
Keller Graduate School of Management
ECON545-21511
January 25,2015
Professor Christopher Nguyen
Situation A My situation has to do with my niece Jenny. Jenny is a super intelligent high-school student who wants to make intelligent choices about her future so she’s decided to call upon me for advice in regard to possibly pursuing a career as a doctor and on the best location to practice medicine. She got wind that I am currently taking a business course in economics and decided to e-mail me for information on the market for physicians in terms of supply and demand, elasticity, costs of production, pricing, and economic profit and loss. As a caring uncle, I definitely recognize the
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The final demand of health care physicians depends on the interactions of demand and supply conditions prevailing in the market of services. According to the report, there will be less agreement on the future demand of the physicians in U.S. As for the past projections of demand and supply of the physicians in the market, there has been consistent shortages of the physicians which ultimately influenced the policies and programs of the prevailing in the country related to the health care systems. It takes time to train new physicians and to create the required infrastructure for new physicians. Therefore, the nation must predict in advance the future needs of the physicians. If we look into the past, there was considerable shortage of the physicians in the country which motivated the creation of new medical schools in the country. Government also increased the medical funding dedicated to such schools and motivated them for admissions to those schools at subsidized rates. The important factors which will estimate the future demand of the physicians depends on 800,000 present physicians, millions of nurses and other health care workers, about 300+ million patients, hundreds of health plans, thousands of health care facilities, thousands of employers in the industry, thousands of legislators and policy makers, and other factors such economic conditions, technology
The main economic challenge for the healthcare system in the United State will be the rising expenses associated with Medicare and Medicaid. The Governments share of healthcare spending is predicted to rise to 31 percent by the year 2020 (Keehan, Sisko, Truffer, Poisal, Cuckler, Madison, Lizonitz, and Smith, 2011). This may jeopardize the economic stability and financial security of the nation.
Baby boomer aging is one of the large causative factors of this increase in demand (Glicken & Miller, 2013, p.1883-1889). According to Glicken & Miller (2013), the elderly population will nearly double in the next fifteen years putting a strain on the healthcare workforce. Also, more than half of physicians have intentions on limiting care access with regards to Medicare patients. Many medical doctors are refusing to care for Medicaid patients. This is a result of the growing number of individuals now with the means to afford healthcare due to the
Impact to Healthcare organizations - These increases in cost raise questions of health care expenses at the hospital level. As higher profits are sought, the cost will become unstable for all, thus causing many to postpone going to the doctor. However, there are many complicated problems associated with our healthcare system. We will focus on main issues that can correct many related problems within the current structure. More importantly, we need to find ways to ensure all Americans have access to health care; and we need to hone in on how we can get the best value for the $2 trillion dollars we spend annually on healthcare.
The United States healthcare industry is facing some serious long-term issues. The number of uninsured people is in millions.
Current health care policy drivers include: access, cost, quality (Kominski, 2014). Each health care policy driver impacts health care differently. They are also associated with different challenges and issues with the U.S. health system (Kominski, 2014). Access is essential for all those seeking health care or health insurance, and the most important driver. Cost is a key driver and affects both access and quality. “Quality in health care has become the leading issue for health care managers” (Kominski, 2014, p. l).
This paper will include: the current health care expenditures whether spending is too much or not enough, where the nation should add or cut, how the public’s health care needs are paid and provide a forecast for: the future economic needs, why these needs must be addressed, how I envision these needs will be financed and conclusion.
The physician shortage is of highest concern in the United States, especially since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been passed. The question is, do we really have a physician shortage? Is it by geographical region or by specialty? I will explore this question and have several different solutions to the physician shortage problem.
When contemplating health care policy changes, several economic issues in health care must be considered. These include the financial issues affecting the health sector and have an impact on health policies. Policy makers face unending challenges due to the health sector revenues that are always rising. Another challenge is decreased funding and failure of the health insurance services.
There will be an increase in budget deficit in the short-term due and due to the increased demand for primary care visits, we might experience a shortage 12,500-31,000 physicians by 2025
Healthcare in America is a very complex system. It is very different from what it used to be. It is moving from what was considered an indemnity type of care plan into a more managed care plan. There are a lot of factors that has influenced the fast growing system. Factors that are considered a contributing to this is the growth in the US population, people are living longer than before. An increase in technology, easier access to information. There is an alarming growth rate in the allied healthcare professionals. The cost and dependence on drugs and the pharmaceutical cost has increased. The rising cost of individual and family healthcare insurance. Because of the rising cost of malpractice insurance, case settlement and jury awards.
The decline in hospital capacity was accompanied by a rise in staffing. Full-time equivalent personnel rose (Malagi & Kamath, 2016). Most of the additional personnel in hospitals are not focused on patient care but management or administration purposes. The American Hospital Association data shows that outpatient department visits have risen per 1,000 persons indicating that capacity for ambulatory services has risen overtime. Emergency departments have reduced with a larger percentage of closures being in rural areas. Compared to hospitals, physicians have continued to increase. Specialists have increased except for radiologists and general surgeons. There is, however, an uneven distribution of physicians between rural and urban areas. There is an estimated shortage of 3,000 physicians in nonmetropolitan areas. In addition to an increase in physicians, there are new forms of acute-care facilities. There are relatively new facilities that have been accredited. Ambulatory surgery centers have, for instance, risen (Best et al.,
It takes a long time to increase the supply of health care professionals. Health care costs were soon rising rapidly. As a result, health care expenditures as a percent of GDP increased from 5 percent to 16 percent (Finkelstein, 2005)
The number of physicians in the country has been decreasing at such a great rate that the government and other stakeholders in the health care sector are trying to camouflage this by increasing the number of foreign doctors practicing in the country. The American Medical Association has been trying to promote these re-entry programs designed for physicians since the year 2009 to help curb this problem. There are many people who can see what the problem is, but it is not possible for them to do much about it. Physicians also see this problem, and they are well aware of why the shortage is arising, but they are also unable to do much to prevent the issue. There are many problems that lead to the shortage of physicians, and unless something is done, it will continue escalating ADDIN EN.CITE Lynch19721573(Lynch, 1972)1573157317Lynch, MichaelThe Physician "Shortage": The Economists' MirrorAnnals of the American Academy of Political and Social ScienceAnnals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science82-88399ArticleType: research-article / Issue Title: The Nation's Health: Some Issues / Full publication date: Jan., 1972 / Copyright © 1972 American Academy of Political and Social Science1972Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science00027162http://www.jstor.org/stable/1040122( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_6" o "Lynch, 1972 #1573" Lynch, 1972).
The article that will be used for this analysis is “Supply, demand, and the Internet-economic lessons for microeconomic principles courses” by Fred Englander and Ronald L. Moy. There will be definitions for the following economics, microeconomics, Law of supply and the Law of demand. Another subject that will be discussed is the identification of factors that lead to the changes in supply and demand. In order to better understand what is being discussed going to start with the definitions.
The healthcare system plays a key role in the economic stability of our country, as every year trillions are spent in attempt to combat disease and health issues that plaque humanity. As it makes up a significant amount of the expenditures in the economy, so the costs associated with health care of those in pain from illness and injury, including lost productivity, increased need of assistance in living and also the cost of death in some cases, is important to the economic stability and over all standard of living in our country. The key to economic prosperity is balancing the need for care with the costs of illness to keep as many people healthy and well without breaking the bank of collective society. The costs of healthcare have been increasingly problematic in recent years with so many issues surrounding the current system. With the “total health care spending in the United States expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970, meaning that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021” (Aetna). With this in mind it is apparent that as we look at the trillion-dollar industry of the medical community it seems that it needs to be a major focus of our nation as a whole and with the many issues come many creative solutions. First let us analyze the reasons behind the current cost and the major problems facing this industry and than discus what