Health economics : fundamentals and flow of funds / Thomas E. Getzen.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Terms of Trade: The Flow of Funds Through the Health Care System -- What is Economics? -- Terms of Trade -- Value -- The Flow of Funds -- Health Care Spending in the United States -- Sources of Funds -- Health Care Providers: The Uses of Funds -- Quality -- Public or Private Choices -- Research -- Time -- The Structure of the Economy: Contracts -- Economic Principles as Conceptual Tools -- Trade -- Choice: Are Benefits Greater Than Costs? -- Opportunity Cost -- Scarcity (Budget Constraints) -- Maximization/Marginalism -- Money Flows in a Circle -- Contracts and Organization -- Health Principles -- Health Is Priceless -- And Yet, Money Still Determines Health -- Health Risks Are More Public Than Private -- Individual Choices: Lifestyle Is More Than Medicine -- Measurable Differences in Quality Over Time, or Regions, Are Greater Than Most Differences in Choices Faced by Patients -- Health and the Economy -- Demand -- Need Versus Demand -- The Demand Curve -- The Diamonds-Water Paradox: An Example of Marginal Analysis -- Ceteris Paribus -- Derived Demand -- Individual, Firm, and Market Demand Curves -- Marginal Revenue -- Price Sensitivity -- Price Elasticity and Marginal Revenue -- Price Discrimination -- Is Price the Only Thing That Matters? -- Profit-Maximizing Firms, Supply, and Markets -- Efficiency -- Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis -- Cost-Benefit Analysis is About Making Choices -- An Everyday Example: Knee Injury -- Opportunity Cost: Looking at Alternatives -- Expected Value.

This examination of the economic analysis of medical markets and the production of health traces the economic rationale and development of the medical care organization. It examines transactions between patients and health care providers to see how profits are made, costs covered, contracts written and regulations formed. It also uses a macroeconomic perspective to explore the dynamics of change within the health care system and to consider determinants of national health spending and the role of governments in public and private health.