U.S. Healthcare Systems

The U.S. healthcare system is influenced by shifting political climate, constant economic development, rapidly evolving technological innovation, diffusion and social values, demanding workforce issues, and demographics trends. Also, the U.S. system differs from other countries’ systems on many dimensions, such as lack of a central governing agency, limited coordination, high cost but only yields average health outcomes, imperfect market conditions, the dominant private sector market, multiple organizational forms and players, and the conflict between market goals and social justice.
The concern over the economic future of healthcare delivery system revolves around three broad issues: cost, quality, and access. Gaps in coverage, combined with the upward trends in medical care spending over the past several decades, add to the commonly-held belief that the U.S. healthcare delivery system is in crisis.
As a final project, prepare and submit a scholarly paper that discusses the following:
1. Describe the economic foundation of the U.S. healthcare delivery system and the role of economics in healthcare.
2. Compare and contrast the use of various economic models to explain the role of economics in healthcare and how the concept of the market equilibrium works in healthcare.
3. Assess the role of production of health and demand and supply for medical care and health insurance, and relation of income and the demand for healthcare.
4. Compare the economic benefits and challenges of individual versus population health.
5. Assess the international comparisons of health among the United States and other developed countries (cost, quality, access to care, and any other relevant measure).