Essay on Health Economics

Economics 436
Study Questions for Midterm Exam

These questions do not require complete sentence answers:

1. List 3 of the 4 distinct features that make the market for medical care services different from the market for a typical good or service.
Uncertainty
Asymmetric Information
Third-Party Payers
Government Intervention

2. List 3 effects that moral hazard has on the market for medical care services.
Over Consumption Effect
Monitoring Effect
Shopping Effect
Lifestyle Effect
Technology Effect

3. List 3 examples of government intervention in the market for medical care services.
Government Regulations
Finances Medical Care - Medicaid/Medicare
Delivery

4. List 3 types of outputs produced by the medical care industry.

5. List 3 important social problems that are said to exist in the U.S. healthcare system.
Medical Care Expenditures (MCE)
Medical Care Access
Medical Care Outcomes (Quality)

6. List 3 alternative measures of medical care spending.

7. List 3 reasons why the U.S. over consumes medical care services.
Financial Incentives
Hippocratic Oath
Few Scientific Studies
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits/Defensive Medicine
Physician Desire to Help Patient

8. List 3 of the 4 categories that most Americans without health insurance fall under.
Working poor and employees of small businesses
Young and healthy
Temporarily unemployed
Free-riders

9. List 3 reasons for the relatively low quality of medical care in the U.S.

10. List 3 reasons why many doctors don’t use evidence-based medicine.
Art of Medicine - Results only apply to average/typical patient so use their own experiences.
Cookbook Medicine - Using guidelines and losing practical skills.
Lack of Knowledge - Doctors don’t know how to evaluate and research studies.

11. List 3 ways greater use of information technology in healthcare would improve quality.

12. List 3 reasons why the medical care industry makes little use of information technology.
High cost
Physician resistance
No financial incentive

13. List 3 of the 4 mechanisms in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 designed to extend health insurance coverage to the uninsured.
Expansion of Medicaid
Creation of state health insurance exchanges
Employer mandate
Individual mandate

14. List 3 health plan standards that insurance companies must satisfy under the Affordable Care Act.
Guaranteed issue
Guaranteed renewability
Essential health benefits
Premium restrictions
Cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses
Free preventive medical care
Children on parents insurance

15. List 3 provisions in the Affordable Care Act designed to improve the quality of medical care.
Quality Measure Reporting
Value-Based Purchasing
Public Availability of Quality Data

16. List 3 provisions in the Affordable Care Act designed to contain rising medical care spending.
Greater Competition Among Health Plans
Taxes on High-Priced Insurance Coverage
Measures to Cut Fraud

17. List 3 often used measures of health in health outcomes studies.
Mortality
Morbidity
Quality Adjusted Life Years

18. List 3 objectives of a health outcome study.
What is the direction of the effect? Positive or negative effect?
What is the size of the effect? Relatively big or small?
What is the mechanism that produces the effect? Tied income to health through psychological stress - creates illnesses.

19. List 3 alternative measures of risk that can be used in a health outcomes study.
Absolute Risk
Relative Risk
Marginal Risk

20. List 3 potential problems when doing a health outcomes study.
Confounding Factors
Reverse Causation
Chance

21. List 3 limitations of a randomized controlled experiment.
Average Causal Effect
Too Few Subjects
Noncompliance
Generalization of Conclusions
Long-Term Effects

22. List 3 ways social status may affect health.
Income
Education
Occupation/Social Rank

These questions can be answered in 3 to

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