《健康经济学》教学课件(英文版)—Chapter1.pptVIP

Bhattacharya, Hyde and Tu – Health Economics CHAPTER 1WHY HEALTH ECONOMICS? Why is health economics interesting? The U.S. health care economy is massive and expensive. Health is a major source of uncertainty and risk. Governments around the world are deeply involved in financing health systems. The U.S. health care economy is massive and expensive The U.S. GDP in 2008 was approximately $14 trillion. One out of every six dollars spent in the U.S. that year was spent on health care. In 1960, barely one dollar out of every twenty spent in the U.S. went toward health care. The trend has been similar in countries around the world, but no country spends quite as much on health care as the U.S. What do we get for all this money? Health care expenditures in the US Health is uncertain and contagious The health economy may be huge, but how is it different from other, smaller markets like the market for bananas and the market for televisions? Two interesting economic properties Uncertainty: most people can predict how many bananas or TVs they will buy in the next week, but not how many emergency heart surgeries they will need in the next week. Contagiousness: it doesn’t matter to you if your neighbor buys a banana or a TV, but it does matter if he skips his flu shot. Uncertainty and insurance An unforeseen broken leg or heart attack can suddenly create demand for expensive health care services. Because most people are risk averse, health-related uncertainty motivates individuals to demand health insurance. This in turn creates problems that arise in insurance markets: adverse selection and moral hazard. These two phenomena are what make health policy really difficult (and really interesting). Contagiousness and externalities The fact that other people’s health decisions affect you creates externalities Examples: Vaccinations and other preventative measures create positive externalities Going out in public with Ebola virus creates negative externalities Externa