Exam 5: The Economics of Health Care

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)will increase government spending

In the United States in 2012,the percentage of people without some form of private health insurance was about

Economists who support market-based reforms for health care believe that increased competition among providers of health care would

Japan has a single-payer health care system in which the government provides national health insurance to all Japanese residents.

Adverse selection will occur in a market as a result of

Over time,people in the United States and other high-income countries have,on average,become taller,which is an indication that their nutritional status has improved.

Growth in labor productivity in the economy as a whole has been ________ labor productivity in health care.

In the 1973 movie Save the Tiger,Jack Lemmon plays Harry Stoner,the CEO of a clothing manufacturer whose business has fallen on hard times.In one of the key scenes of the movie,Stoner tries to convince his partner that they should hire someone to burn one of their buildings in order to collect on their insurance policy.Harry Stoner's actions are an example of

Article Summary Administrative overhead costs resulting from insurance companies handling reimbursement claims is in large part the reason that health care in the United States is much more expensive than in other countries. An analysis on the administration costs of health care in the United States found that roughly 30 percent of the costs of health care are administrative and that more than 25 percent of health-sector employees work in administration. Health insurance companies are often paid a fixed percentage of the claims they administer, which gives them little to no impetus to increase efficiency and keep costs down. Source: Jeffrey Pfeffer, "The Reason Health Care Is So Expensive: Insurance Companies," Bloomberg Businessweek, April 10, 2013. -Refer to the Article Summary.Even if insurance companies were more efficient and brought administrative costs down,consumers would ________ the full cost of medical treatment.This would result in the market equilibrium price and quantity of medical services being ________ than the efficient equilibrium price and quantity.

Which of the following is not part of the "regulation of health insurance" provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

Figure 5-1 Figure 5-1 represents the market for vaccinations.Vaccinations are considered a benefit to society,and the figure shows both the marginal private benefit and the marginal social benefit from vaccinations. -Refer to Figure 5-1.At the market equilibrium,the deadweight loss is equal to

In 2011,________ of the uninsured were younger than age 34.

Of the following high-income countries,which has the highest mortality ratio for cancer?

Briefly describe changes in life expectancy,average height,and infant mortality in the United States since 1850.

In the market for insurance,

The number of people receiving Medicare is expected to grow to 80 million by the year

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is a federally administered part of the Affordable Care Act,and is designed for people with pre-existing medical conditions to obtain insurance.By offering health insurance to all U.S.citizens with pre-existing medical conditions,the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan

Figure 5-3 Figure 5-3 represents the market for medical services with and without insurance,and the effect of a third-party payer system on the demand for medical services. -Refer to Figure 5-3.If consumers paid the full price of medical services,the equilibrium quantity would be

Since 1981,deaths from cardiovascular diseases have decreased in the United States.

What is asymmetric information?