Ch09 GOVERNMENT AND HEALTH CARE（课件）- 《财政金融英文版》同步教学（人民大学版）

GOVERNMENT AND HEALTH CARE C h a p t e r 9 U.S. Market for Health Care Health insurance provided as part of compensation of most employees; elderly and poor who qualify are covered under Medicare and Medicaid Any others can purchase health insurance in the marketplace – it is not a guaranteed right Insurance-dominated market for medical care reduces price consciousness of the public Other issues include problems of dispersing accurate information to consumers Health Care Spending in the U.S. Financing Health Care in the U.S. Asymmetric Information Situation in which sellers of medical care are better informed about cost and quality than are buyers Often, information on cost of treatments, especially emergency treatment, is difficult or impractical to obtain in advance Is a possible explanation for rising health care spending If benefit of procedures is overstated or procedures prescribed for which benefits fall short of costs, more than the efficient amount of resources will be devoted to medical care Risk and Health Insurance Private insurance companies provide coverage while earning profit because they are able to pool the risks incurred by a large group of individuals. Most people are risk averse – they prefer to incur a certain modest cost for insurance rather than risk high costs of a possible unforeseen event Extension of health insurance to cover both high-probability and low-cost risks has resulted in high insurance premiums. Third-Party Payments Third-party payments – financing of health care in the U.S. where the third party is neither the purchaser nor the seller of the service Deductible – in a typical insurance plan, the amount of expenditures patients must first incur before the plan begins paying benefits Coinsurance – amount paid as an out-of-pocket cost by the individual Moral hazard of health insurance – increase in incentive to consume and supply services resulting from reduction in price to consumers when third parties pay the bulk of expenses