Essay on "History Evolution Health Care Economics"

Essay 3 pages (910 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

In this order of ideas, the demand for medical services is generically accepted as inelastic, which basically means that the demand suffers little or no change upon a change in the price of the medical act. As a consequence, the providers of medical services and equipments (including pharmaceutical companies) have been continually able to raise costs without suffering a decrease in demands.

This trait is the result of more economic principles being integrated in the process of medical care provision. Throughout the past recent decades then, the medical sector has also come to pay attention to economic features, such as the financing of the medical act, the reimbursement of the services, the profitability of the sector, the operational efficiency, return on the investments in new technologies, staff training and so on.

The increased attention paid to the economics of health care has generated a series of results, of both positive as well as negative natures. At the level of the positive impacts, the most notable of them is represented by the increase in the quality of the medical act, as well as the financial responsibilization of the medical staffs. Still, on the other hand, the negative impact is materialized in the decreasing access to medical care due to issues of affordability.

The legislations in the country currently state that medical care would not be denied to patients regardless of economic background, yet free health care becomes weaker and the providers less economically able to support it. And in the context of the economic crisis, people come to neglect their own health due to economic concerns:

"Consumers are self denying care due to economic concerns. With the rise in unemployment, providers are finding more patients are not able to pay for services. While EMTALA laws dictate that patients will not be refused care, providers are looking to cut cost in order to manage the rising uncompensated care" (McConnell, 2012).

Overall, the economic evolution of the health care sector has manifested three important stages, as follows: the establishment of medicine and health care provision without much attention to economic issues; the emergence of economic issues and the emphasis on the financial aspects, and last, the increasing role of health care finance, which impacts the access to medical care. In all, the evolution of health care economics seems pertinent to a capitalist construction.

References:

Blumenschein, K., Johannesson, M., 1996, Economic evaluation in health care. A brief history and future directions, Pharmaeconomics, Vol. 10, No. 2

Cox, M., Pacala, J.T., Vercellotti, G.M., Shea, J.A., 2004, Health care economics, financing, organization and delivery, Family Medicine, Vol. 36

McConnell, P., 2012, Elastic or inelastic is not the only question, High… READ MORE

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