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Economics of health care literature research

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Research and define the terms below and summarize how each relates to health care. I have the definitions but i am unsure how they relate to health care.

Students should research the definitions of the following economic terms: economics, supply, demand, macroeconomics, microeconomics, elasticity, inelasticity, and gross national product. Perform a literature search on these topics. Prepare a 700-1,050-word paper, which includes the definition of each term and a summary of how these terms apply to health care.

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Solution Summary

Provides guidance on preparing a paper on defining the terms economics, supply, demand, macroeconomics, microeconomics, elasticity, inelasticity, and gross national product and how these terms apply to health care. A list of relevant articles from the literature is given.

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So here are my thoughts for each of the terms:
economics: Economics is the study of how society distributes a finite amount of resources amongst infinite wants. Think about how resource allocation is handled in a healthcare situation. Most people feel that it is wrong to withhold treatment to anyone. Is it possible to achieve this goal, given finite resources? It is a difficult question and is the basis for the current debate about health insurance reform.

supply: what is supplied by healthcare? Who provides it?

demand: who are the patients and what do they want?

macroeconomics: This is the study of the workings of the whole economy. Healthcare is actually becoming a serious threat to the whole economy, at least according to some people. Why do they say this? Inflation is one thing that comes to mind.

microeconomics: This is the study of individual decisions. What kind of choices to patients have to make? Is basic healthcare something that we can really do without?

elasticity and inelasticity:
This quote from Wicipedia.org just ...

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