Health Demand, Elasticity, Principle and Agent in Determining Demand for Medical Care - Coursework Example

Step Health Demand, Elasti Principle and Agent in Determining Demand for Medical Care" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity, compare the primary individual factors that influence demand, and explain the significant ways in which each affects the demand curve. Provide at least one (1) example of these factors to support your rationale.It is important to note that, unlike conventional goods, the demand for healthcare products are driven by several unique factors. Two of these factors include patient characteristics and healthcare providers/physicians.

These then are included with the four primary factors cited in the text that traditionally drive demand for goods and services, namely, price, taste, expectation and income (p.55). The cited unique factors may be classified within the “health status” variable that impact expectation but their role are far too important in the healthcare setting to be relegated as a mere sub-factor. This is the case because the patients are the ones seeking care and that demand is initiated based on their healthcare needs.

Afterwards, the physician then prescribes the quantity as well as type of treatment/medical product or service to be needed. For instance, a person is admitted into emergency care because of severe diabetes. Upon examination, the physician has determined that one of his legs has to be amputated in order to save his life. Here, the demand for the surgery and the medications entailed were determined based on the condition of the patient and the judgment of physician. I believe that if the patient is insured the impact of income and price may be diminished.

This can also be highlighted in the dynamics behind the decline of price and its impact on demand. In conventional goods, a decline would precipitate demand. However, in the case of health care a decline in price, say, of a diabetes drug, would not immediately translate into demand or a significant change in the demand curve because it will be dependent on the number of diabetics and their need and health status. Imagine a situation where consumers have incomplete information about their health status and about the productivity of medical care.

Examine the roles of the principal and the agent in helping consumers to determine the demand for medical care in the described situation. Provide at least one (1) detailed example of such roles in action to support your response.Let us suppose that the patient is covered by medical insurance. He is, in effect, the principal in this situation while the physician serves as his agent, acting in his best interest since his decisions are made to improve the patients well-being. This is the ideal scenario where the agent recommends care services and medications for the client’s benefit.

For instance, the physician could prescribe highly-paid and, therefore, effective procedures. The patient without any medical knowledge as to his condition or the treatment would not have known the difference between such procedures and low-paid primary care. But the condition and the physician’s influence move the demand curve towards highly-paid care and specialties.Step 2:The post approaches the principle of demand in the general context. Certainly, all the factors cited that affect demand were applicable.

There is the case of income, for instance. This can be highlighted in the case of uninsured individuals. The exorbitant amount of medication will, of course, prevent them from availing of expensive procedures and services. This should affect the demand curve in a market with a sizable number of uninsured individuals. Desire is also a critical variable in driving demand for healthcare services. The post cited several important factors that, in turn, affect this variable such as educational background, gender and upbringing.

I also believe that this is also partly driven by the ethnicity of patient. Collectively, these considerations explain the texts position that tastes for goods and services are stable over time (p.57).ReferenceHicks, L., (2014). Economics of health and medical care (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.