health economics assignment help

health economics assignment help

Health Economics: Improving Healthcare Efficiency and Accessibility

1. Introduction to Health Economics

The efficient and proper delivery of health care is an incredibly difficult and complicated process, requiring the input of a wide variety of health professionals, insurance and reimbursement systems, and patients and their social networks. The potential for errors in the diagnosis and treatment of illness is high, and disputes abound concerning which treatment methods are the most effective and best for the patient. And with health care costs rising at double-digit rates, affordable health care delivery, a goal of most societies, is increasingly becoming a dream. Many parties have recognized that the day-to-day delivery of health care in and of itself is a complex and practically insoluble equation, consistent with George Bernard Shaw’s definition of a healthy man: “he is dead.” To date, the description of the health care delivery system provided in the remainder of this paragraph is a very simplified one. The managers of most organizations sport titles such as president, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, administrator, and so forth, with most health care delivery organizations providing a plethora of services.

Health economics: The application of mathematical modelling to health and medical care increases the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery systems. The potential uses of mathematical models for health care delivery and evaluation are numerous and diverse. This article briefly describes some of the ways such models are being used and looks into the future toward roles they might be expected to play in the health care field.

2. Factors Affecting Healthcare Costs

The data show that people pay different prices for care depending on the location and type of health insurance that they have. While lower costs to patients may increase non-price element utilization, price increases can also lead to increases in per capita spending through higher healthcare revenues for primary care physicians. Increases in payment rates to primary care physicians have been shown to be related to almost immediately increased overall spending in the local areas. The geographic variation in the cost of physician prices may also help to explain why the variation in spending is more prominent in the privately insured market, as there will be less differential cost sharing across and within insurance types. Recent evidence shows that when people are given cash to spread across routine expenses not only will they not spend it on healthcare if they are in relatively poor health, they will shift away from emergency care and into primary care visits. Increases in prices paid to specialists have also been shown to be related to the utilization of services and increases in prices across different types of physicians directly increase total out-of-pocket spending.

Unpacking the drivers behind health spending can help lawmakers make more informed decisions about proposals to reduce spending or expand coverage or diagnosis rates. Several types of factors can drive growth in healthcare spending. Broadly, growth in health spending can be driven by increasing the unit price of health care (the amount that providers are paid for each service), increases in the utilization of services (the number of services delivered to each patient), increases in the use of new technologies which can lead to more utilization for each patient, and expansion in the number of individuals receiving healthcare services. Within these broad categories, common factors affecting the cost of health services include an aging population, increases in administrative complexity, scope of practice expansions, provider market power, attractiveness of medical professions, medical malpractice law changes, eligibility expansions, insurance expansions and reductions, advances in technology, consolidation in the health sector, and increases in national health spending (as well as how growth in national health spending is financed).

3. Evaluating Healthcare Policies and Interventions

The available data on health status in Australia and health costs as a result of illness and disability events are particularly relevant in making informed healthcare policy decisions. For instance, better resource allocation, setting amenable health goals and priorities, assessing health interventions, healthcare outcome measurement, and program evaluation, and providing evidence in a cost-effectiveness and transportability manner. It also shows the relevance of health economics matter in daily healthcare practice with a view to improving healthcare efficiency and accessibility for all Australians. The indirect costs of illness and disability are greater than the direct costs attributed to specific diseases because they include other items such as foregone output and loss of income due to retirement or death of the person affected. Furthermore, these estimates of indirect costs should be treated as national totals as they represent the loss of production in the economy as a whole and are not related to specific budget items or revenue sources. Informing current health priorities, a detailed economic assessment of indirect costs in each disease or disability category is important in reallocation and distribution of healthcare resources.

What is the economic cost of illness and disability in Australia? The direct economic cost of ill-health is the value of the resources consumed in providing health goods and services, such as pharmaceuticals, medical examination and treatment, hospital care, rehabilitation services, and aids to independent living. In addition, people with disabilities are heavy consumers of welfare services and thereby incur additional welfare costs compared to the general population. The indirect cost of disease, disability, or premature death reflects the lost economic output of the person affected. Indirect costs also capture the lost production because of a person’s need to care for a family member or friends with illness or disability. Overall, quantifying the economic cost of diseases and disability is one way of setting priorities in healthcare provision, planning, and delivery in Australia.

4. Health Insurance and Financing Models

The traditional health insurance (social insurance model) entitles the insured to access health services managed through defined contributions to a fund. A separate fund ensures the payment of such contributions, and the management and audit performance of a medical services purchasing financier assures financial viability of each mechanism. For example, in Kenya and Ghana, the commission on social health insurance (NHIF) models introduced new reforms in the last decade.

The health insurance model delivers an entitlement to a package of services which allows an individual insured to keep a predetermined amount of the contributions to access health services. This model ensures the accumulation of funds which are used to manage the incessant illness of individuals and family members who depend on them. Today, health insurance systems are being structured in ISTs to deliver high quality and affordable health needs by a wider section of the populace such as informal sector workers, elderly, women and children.

The modern world is abuzz with a number of population health financing models that assist in sharing the cost of funding health services. This model delivers an entitlement to a package of services which allows an individual insured to keep a predetermined amount of the contributions to access health services. This model ensures the accumulation of funds which are used to manage the incessant illness of individuals and family members who depend on them.

There are several health financing models that have been used to attain UHC and manage healthcare costs. This section discusses some of these models. Health insurance is a financial mechanism that allows pooling of funds and risk sharing to individuals who contribute to a certain fund towards the payment for healthcare. Those who are ill benefit from this fund to pay for their hospital bills or medications. This functions on the premise that not all individuals become ill at the same time.

5. Strategies for Promoting Affordable and Quality Healthcare

A growing number of economists, epidemiologists, and other social scientists are identifying important roles for economic theory and estimation wisdom in addressing some of the key challenges facing modern medicine. The aim of this study is to contribute to the debate on medical research, as described by Wratschko. Specifically, I have derived several models of consumer theory specific to different types of pathological decision making and argued that this approach can lead to more effective research, particularly on anti-social behavior or emotional therapy. In conclusion, I argue that the efficiency of investment in behavioral therapies may be enhanced by devising a suitable metric of happiness and then conducting cost-benefit analysis across both physical and emotional therapy. Hajjem’s lament – the fact that health economists rely too heavily on the model of parallel preferences guarding – may be partially rebutted by presenting a solution to Sinha’s social cost-benefit problem.

Today, the United States, as well as many other countries, face the challenge of improving the efficiency and accessibility of healthcare. Thus, six policy intervention strategies are identified to create a more affordable and qualified healthcare system, including reducing emotional therapy and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of behavior therapy. Six policy interventions are identified.

Strategies for promoting affordable and quality healthcare

Health economics: Improving healthcare efficiency and accessibility