Implications of Health Economic Concepts for Healthcare - Coursework Example

Demand and Supply: The principle of demand and supply also greatly affects the field of health care. Having an understanding of the patterns of demand and supply on a monthly, weekly, and seasonal basis allows for the development of a focused effort to shape demand for purposes of shaping demand to match supply. According to the principles of supply and demand, when the supply is high, then the demand is high (Dalton, 2012). On the other hand, when the supply is low, then the demand is low. However, when the demand is high, and there is little supply, then chances are high that the products under consideration will be expensive. In the health care, accesses to medical services are always on high demand. However, there is a shortage of medical practitioners who can help in treating people (Edwards, 2001). This has an effect of increasing the medical costs that entrepreneurs will charge. This is because there is a shortage of medical practitioners, and the demand is high for the services of these practitioners. Another example is on generic drugs. Because of the many and great supply of these drugs, they are cheap when compared to the original version of these drugs (Ko, 2013). The law of supply and demand denotes that when supply is high, then the prices of the products will be low. The experiences of a variety of health care organizations are able to demonstrate the fact that the demand of health care services is not insatiable, and they are predictable. It is possible to predict the advice, appointment, or the message of a health care service provider, basing on time, population, and scope of the practice of the provider (Dalton, 2012). It is possible to anticipate periods of low or high demand by analyzing the demand data that is collected, based on the requests recorded in electronic health registers, or accounting books. An health care system can use these predictions for purposes of matching the supply of its services to the various needs of patients for a particular service (Lee and Kim, 2012). Elasticity of Health Care: Most people believe that the demand for health care services is inelastic. For example if a person is sick, then he or she will not be very sensitive to price. A person suffering from malaria, typhoid, etc, will pay the price of medical treatment, irrespective on whether it is low, or high. However, the exception to this principles or rules touches on the purchase of eye glasses, plastic surgery, elective surgery, etc. These are considered luxurious health care services, and it is only for the preserve of the rich (Dalton, 2012). In deciding to enroll for such kind of services, people will be very sensitive to their prices. Furthermore, health care insurance is a concept that is under the subjection of elasticity of demand. People, groups, and institutions will purchase health care insurance based on the cost and prices of the insurance policy, and other insurance options that are within the market. Furthermore, there is a consideration of the consequences that people who are uninsured will face (Edwards, 2001). Elasticity of demand refers to the responsiveness that customers or consumers have, regarding the various changes to the price of services and goods. Take for instance under health insurance services. Because of the fact that the consequences of not receiving health care insurance is less, with the healthier and younger people, these category of people are more concerned with the various prices of health care insurance (Dalton, 2012). This is in comparison to the old and sick people. However, this does not mean that a college graduate, who is young and healthy, would not consider taking a health insurance policy at the right and good price (Ko, 2013). However, this indicates that that these people will not purchase a health care insurance package that people who are living with heart disease and diabetes will purchase. This would be a waste of money, and resources, because they health conditions would not allow such a situation to happen. Health Care Resources: It is possible to locate various health care resources through the internet, by looking through books, or even pamphlets. An health care resource can be an institution or an organization that is responsible for provision of health care services. These institutions can either be a medical institution, a research organization, or a government health agency. An example of a health care resource includes the center for disease control (CDC). CDC is a national public health institution in America, and it is a federal agency (Dalton, 2012). CDC is under the department of Human and Health Services, and it has its headquarters in Georgia. The main purpose and goal of CDC is to protect and safeguard the health safety of the citizens of United States, through prevention, and control of injury, diseases, and disability. The main focus of CDC is to develop and control diseases, and it does this through extensive research, on the various methods of preventing and controlling diseases (Edwards, 2001). CDC, as an institution mainly focuses on infectious diseases, environmental health, food borne pathogens, health promotion, occupational health and safety, prevention of injuries, etc. Furthermore, CDC is able to research and provide information pertaining non-infectious diseases such as diabetes, obesity, etc (Ko, 2013). CDC is a very important health care resource, and this is mainly because of the roles it plays in the society. Take for instance in the research against HIV/ AIDS. CDC was able to come up with a control mechanism, whereby it proved that male circumcision can reduce the spread of HIV AIDS (Maynard, 2013). Health care resources are very important in the provision of health care services. Their ability to prevent and control diseases is essential in ensuring that the population are healthy, hence the availability of a healthy work force. Health Measures and Costs: Health measures refer to the process that is undertaken for purposes of analyzing the efficiency or effective of a policy. This is in respect to preventing, controlling and treating a disease (Edwards, 2001). There are a variety of categories of health measures, and this includes preventive measures, controlling measures, treating measures, etc (Ko, 2013). Preventive health measures involve a variety of interventions, which can be used for purposes of preventing or delaying the occurrence of a disease. An example of a preventive health measure includes the vaccination of children against measles, polio, small pox, etc. These measures are aimed at preventing small children from acquiring these diseases. Preventive health care measures constitute an integral part in the promotion of health efforts, and it is recognized as an important cost-effective method of treating and identifying potential health concerns, before developing or worsening (Dalton, 2012). Control measures aim at controlling the emergence of a disease. An example of such kind of a measure is isolation of an Ebola victim or patient. This is with the intention of preventing such kind of a person from interacting with others, and spreading the disease (Lee and Kim, 2012). These health care measures may focus on planning, assessment, counseling, or even advocacy and policy formulation. Health care costs involve the amount of money an individual would pay for purposes of accessing a health care service. The cost of health care is a sensitive political issue, and it has graced the presidential political debates over the past years (Edwards, 2001). For example, the current issue of concern is the Obama care act. The purpose of creating this act is to ensure that citizens of America are able to afford the health care services in United States. This is through an insurance policy (Maynard, 2013). This law has faced stiff resistance from the Republicans, who argue that it is a breach on the principles of liberalism that the American economy adheres to. However, the intention of this law is to reduce the cost of accessing health care services, hence promoting a healthy nation. References: Dalton, J. M. (2012). Diabetes Disease Management in a Home Care Setting. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 24(1), 38-49. Edwards, R. T. (2001). Paradigms and research programmes: is it time to move from health care economics to health economics?. Health Economics, 10(7), 635-649. Ko, U. (2013). Integrated Health Care: A Holistic Approach to Public Health. World Health & Population, 3(1), 635-649. Lee, M., & Kim, Y. (2012). Zero-Inflated Endogenous Count In Censored Model: Effects Of Informal Family Care On Formal Health Care. Health Economics, 21(9), 1119-1133. Maynard, A. (2013). Health Care Rationing: Doing It Better in Public and Private Health Care Systems. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 38(6), 1103-1127. Read More