Critical thinking paper - Essay Example

Cost-effective care and quality care must be positively associated in order to satisfy s. It is d that in order to have quality care, onemust be able to spend that much. This must not be the case because even if the quality of care is high, it has to be ensured that affordability is right at everyone’s fingertips. However, considering that the United States has the most sophisticated health care, it is still one of the most expensive in the world though. This is one of the biggest problems in the country and the government is currently on the go to look for policies that could sufficiently cater the needs of consumers without spending that much.

The government clearly has the full influence to effectively reduce the cost for healthcare without compromising its quality at the same time. There are basic principles in the economy that can be applied by the government in order to obtain appropriate balance between cost-effective care and quality care. One basic principle is the idea of supply and demand. It is noted that when the demand of a product or service is high, then the tendency is to increase its price because the bottom line would be to have deficit on supply.

However, in order to counteract this basic principle it is important to increase supply of service or product amidst its prevailing high demand. This is to ensure that the price of a certain product or service which is high in demand will still be at its stability level. The same principle can be applied in health care. The issue is significantly to balance its being cost effective and its quality. The government therefore must encourage more health care providers including health care insurance firms in order to significantly meet the need of cost effective care but with quality.

In this case, the government therefore is encouraging more competition among health care providers. When there is competition, the health care providers therefore would try to increase the quality of their offered services but not at the expense of customers. Each provider will encourage consumers to go for their service by enticing them with a good quality service at affordable price. The simple rule here is to basically increase supply so as not to affect the price. Fair competition therefore is needed.

Consumers must significantly have to choose several health plans for instance. This will give providers incentives for cost-effective approach (van de Ven, 253). With regards to this move, competition will surely arise between groups of providers, provider-groups and provider-insurer organizations. Competitive health-care system is important to be played in the market fairly. The consumers therefore must determine their rights and privileges for a better option in healthcare system. In this regard, the balance between price and quality will significantly be observed.

It is in this way that consumers will have meaningful role to play in the balance between cost-effective care and quality care. Health care providers therefore must not only have the chance to implement their policies but in a consumer-driven market for health care, consumers always have the final say. Referencevan de Ven, Wynand P. M. M. H. “The key role of health insurance in a cost-effective health care system Towards regulated competition in the Dutch medical market.” Health Policy 7 (1987): 253-72.