Exam 7: The Economics of Health Care

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that ________ account(s) for less than 1 percent of health care costs in the United States.

Uninsured patients receiving treatments at hospital emergency rooms that could have been provided less expensively at doctor's offices account for ________ of health care costs in the United States.

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

In the United States, private health insurance companies

The health care system in ________ is referred to as a universal health insurance system, under which every resident is required to enroll in either a private or the government-provided health insurance program.

In 2013, infant mortality in the United States was ________ per 1,000 live births.

Automobile insurance companies have a problem with people who buy insurance and then drive recklessly or take less care to avoid losses after being insured. In other words, the automobile insurance market is subject to

Suppose you see a 2008 Ford Mustang GT advertised in the local newspaper for $15,000. If you knew the car was reliable, you would be willing to pay $17,000 for it. If you knew the car was unreliable, you would only be willing to pay $12,000 for it. Under what circumstances should you buy the car?

What is the term that describes a situation in which one party to an economic transaction has less information than the other party?

In the United States, out-of-pocket spending on health care was ________ percent of all health care spending in 2011.

In what ways do economists and policymakers who believe that the federal government should have a larger role in the health care system criticize the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

When people who buy insurance change their behavior after the purchase because they are protected from loss by the insurance, the insurance market is said to face the problem of

Two key consequences of asymmetric information are adverse selection and moral hazard. Define each concept, provide one example of each and explain how the two concepts differ.

In the United States from 1981 to 2011, deaths from which of the following increased?

As a percentage of GDP, health care spending on Medicare and Medicaid is expected to double over the next 40 years unless health care costs begin to grow at a slower rate.

Consider a used car market in which half the cars are good and half are bad (lemons). If buyers are rational, the prices being offered for used cars will result in

If a buyer in an economic transaction has more information than the seller, the buyer benefits at the expense of the seller. This phenomenon is due to

Moral hazard refers to the actions people take after they have entered into a transaction that make the other party to the transaction worse off.

Figure 7-2 Figure 7-2 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 7-2. Marginal private benefit is represented by which curve?

Of the following, which has most likely contributed the most to the rapid rise in health care costs in the United States?