History and Evolution of Health Care Economics
Lauren Michaud
HCS/440
Eric Oestmann
August 12,2012
History and Evolution of Health Care Economics
Healthcare economics has drastically changed over the years. It makes up for one sixth of American budget (Johnson, 2009). Health care economics has drastically changed partly due to new advances in technology over the years. Money is the factor of health care economics. Money drives economics and makes up health care and how far it can go. Economics will continue to change and financial advisors who have more education on health care economic advances will be beneficial to keep with changes in economics. Economics focuses on market. Market is like the buyer buys a product or
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One particular factor for the drastically changing health care economics is the fact that as wealthier people became, the more willing they were to pay for goods and services. Even now, health care is most often on people’s list after they buy food for their families and essentials for their home. With all the new advances in technology it has created a change in the supply and demand of health care economics. People in the 1900s were not as eager to consult with getting health care services as they are in today’s time. Medical services have advanced with medications, surgeries, exams, and patient care. Shifting the financial burden also makes medical care more desirable to individuals. Insurance companies paying for all or most of medical costs give people more incentive to seek treatment or get regular visits by the doctor. The value of health care is also the change that has come to health care economics. People feel their health is priceless and valuable. They are willing to pay to make sure they are healthy and live a long life. Although the feeling has changed about health care and people have more money to spend, health care has made dramatic changes in their costs as well. These changing costs have made a change in health care economics as well. Debt in the US now is mostly credited to health care bills that Americans rack up. People are willing to spend as much as money as possible to pay for
More and more people with medical insurance are relying on the health care system as new technologies and treatments become available. This leads to a grater number of claims for payment by insurance companies, the costs of which are passed back to health care consumers. The baby-boom generation is entering its peak health-care using period. Over eighty million Americans will turn 50 in the next 10 years. The cost of providing heath care for these individuals will be staggering
There have been many studies performed focusing on the rising costs of health care and some of the findings state that the rising cost of healthcare premiums is a worldwide problem. However, I believe they are higher in the U.S. In 2015, U.S. health care costs were $3.2 trillion. That makes healthcare one of the largest U.S. industries, equaling 17.8 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in comparison to the late 1960s; where healthcare costs were only $27 billion, or 5% of the GDP, which averaged $9,990 per person each year. The main reason for the rising cost of healthcare is a combination of government policies and lifestyles changes. Examples included lack of coverage or costly coverage, lack of available coverage for
Funding health care is continuously changing. It involves payments going and receiving. Allocating resources that impact funding plays a big factor in how economists view health care funding. This includes the rising demand for quality and accessible health care.
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.
If we compare the health care financing of past and that of recent times, there exists a dramatic shift in the trends of the issue. In the past times, the
“The amount people pay for health insurance increased 30 percent from 2001 to 2005, while income for the same period of time only increased 3 percent.” (Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). The rising cost of healthcare is a huge problem in America today. In this paper I will analyze the different issues and causes for the increase in cost.
In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.
One of the issues that is widely discussed and debated concerning the United States economy is the healthcare system. Unlike in the majority of developed and developing countries, the healthcare system in the United States is not public, meaning that the state does not provide free or cheap healthcare services. This paper addresses many of the factors contributing to the rising cost of healthcare.
Grossman’s model states that a person utility is based on health (H) and other non-health related goods (Z) that the person consumes. The production possibility frontier for Grossman model shows the tradeoff between home good production (Z) and health (H). Unlike usual production possibility frontiers, an individual needs an optimal level of H to maximize consumption of Z goods.
While some argue that a switch to universal healthcare will cost up to $1.5trillion,4 there are other factors at play that influence the economy. Most Americans have health insurance through their employer which causes a huge financial strain on that employer, which is in turn reflected in product and service prices. If the price of goods and services goes up, that could end up hurting the United States’ global competitiveness. Citizens are unwilling to leave their current employer and possibly start their own business for fear of not being able to afford health insurance on their own.5 Some of those would-be entrepreneurs could create the next big product that becomes a critical part of the national economy. On average, the typical family of four in America pays over $20,000 annually on health insurance,7 money that could be pushed back into the economy. This is all in addition to the societal costs caused by the lack of universal health care such as fewer years in the workforce, caused by poor health, and higher cost to public programs like Medicare and the criminal justice system.5 If someone is uninsured until they reach the appropriate age to enroll in Medicare, they could have pre-existing, otherwise preventable conditions that will end up costing more money than it would have to treat them in the first place. In 2005, economist Dr. Kenneth Thorpe published a report in which he calculated the overall
1A. Market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services is not efficient. In any given market, the quantity of a product demanded by consumers does not equate to the quantity supplied by suppliers. This is a direct result of a lack of certain economically ideal factors, which prevents equilibrium.
Healthcare didn’t always exist in the United States. Before the 1920’s, most people didn’t have health coverage. Most people were treated at home and hardly anyone, except a few large employers offered healthcare. Everyone else paid out of pocket. As the population shifted from rural areas to urban centers, families lived in smaller homes with less room to care for sick family members (Faulkner 1960, p. 509). Increasing requirements for licensing and accreditation, in addition to a rising demand for medical care, eventually led to rising costs. By the end of 1920s, there was an increased demand for medical care and the costs of medical care increased.
US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of
The Health Economics and Financing textbook provides me a lot of knowledge of how health and healthcare play important roles in economy. Before reading the textbook, I wasn’t really aware that health could be a key factor that drive economic growth. However, after reading this textbook, I have learned that healthcare is completely different than any other goods since it is a necessity, and people tend to pay for healthcare services no matter how much the cost as long as they can afford. Everything in the textbook is important, but for me, the biggest take away point from the textbook is the importance of healthcare.
All administration of health insurance in provinces should be carried out by a public authority on a non-profit basis.