Exam 18: Value for Money in the Future of Health Care

Which of the following is not an example of inefficiencies in the US medical sector caused by the system's slow response to technological and organizational changes in the rest of the economy since the 1970s?

Rising costs and declining consumer satisfaction are among the key factors that may lead us to define the system as broken.

Economists explain the continuous increases in health expenditures in the U.S. as primarily a function of the high costs of medical interventions.

Use the concept of path dependence, as well as U.S. cultural values, to explain why private physicians will lobby strongly against changes to the way they operate their practices or are paid.

"Follow the money." Please explain how this illuminates the basic economic question in health economics: What gets produced? How? And for whom?

Dynamic efficiency means that some short term allocative efficiency must be traded off to give time for managers, physicians, and other employees to create technological improvements that might only be allocatively efficient many years in the future.

Why would it be misleading for advertisements to urge the general population to get a popular flu vaccine so that everybody contributes to a healthy U.S.? That is, why would it be misleading to present a vaccine as "producing health"?

The role of the physician in the 21^st century compared with her role in the early and mid 20^th century will be a switch from expert and sole decision maker to that of team leader.

Administrative costs in the US healthcare sector tend to be lower than in other developed countries due to a higher degree of competition in healthcare markets.

Why might it be difficult to convince a breast cancer research group at a particular institution to give up a portion of its funding for a long term research project because it would be more economically efficient to use those same funds on another research project which is highly likely to lead to a reduction in childhood cancer mortality rates within a few months?

Common reference values for a year of life worth are usually in the range between ____________________ per additional year.

Marginal productivity (gain in average life expectancy) of an additional dollar spent on medical care is much higher today than it was a century ago.

Reducing healthcare spending in the U.S. by 20% is likely to result in a

One of the key contributions health economists make to any debate on medical care decisions is to force the questions which make clear the perspectives of each party involved: patient, provider, or payer.

Discuss the long term trend in income and average health expenditures in the U.S. which led to the distributional crisis in health care costs beginning in the 1950s.

What seems to be Dr. Getzen's overall conclusion about the likelihood of implementing efficiency-boosting reforms in the healthcare sector in the nearest future?

When projecting future US healthcare spending as a share of GDP into the long-run, it is likely that

Some of the important and long-standing institutions of the American healthcare system, that are not likely to disappear in the near future as a result of reforms, include all of the following except

If the incremental cost of a $40,000 medical treatment results in an expected gain of 12 years of life, then the treatment is economically efficient.

Physician office management solutions to reducing the escalating growth rates of health expenditures and improving patient satisfaction include MSAs, medical homes and concierge practices.