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Economics 415
Economics of Health
Does Managed Care
Improve or Hurt the Health of Americans?
Should We Discriminate in Providing Life Sustaining Medical
Care?
Does Employer-Based Health Insurance Provide Adequate Coverage
for Most Americans?
Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Responsible for the High Cost of
Prescription Drugs?
Should the Government Regulate the Sale, Advertisement, and
Distribution of Junk Food?
Is Gun Control a Public Health Issue?
Should Parents Be Allowed to Opt Out of Vaccinating Their
Children?
"If medical costs continue to outstrip economic growth,
eventually there will be no money left for anything
else education, defense, housing, the arts. We all just be
operating on each other Health care will swallow GDP."
-Maggie Mahar, Money-Driven Medicine (2006)
We will examine a range of
controversial issues in health and economics. In addition to the
questions listed above, we will discuss:
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Is the US health care
delivery in crisis?
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Do physician respond
to financial incentives?
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Does lack of insurance
mean poor health?
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Is HIV-AIDS a problem
in the US?
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Why is there a
shortage of organ donations?
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Who will pay for
medical care for the elderly?
You will learn economic
tools that will enable you to analyze these controversial
issues. This course is very interactive and will involve
students™ active participation in debates and presentations.
There will be guest speakers from the health industry. You will
have opportunities to analyze public policies in health care and
to identify the challenges involved in solving real-world health
care problems. If time allows, we will also compare and contrast
health care delivery systems in the U.S. and other countries in
the world.
Course Pre-Requisites: Econ 315 or Econ 310 Intermediate
Microeconomics
Economics
506 Economics of Aging
Do Older Workers Want to Work? What Determines When They
Choose to Retire?
Who will Pay for Medical Care for the Elderly?
Who Pays? Who should Pay for Social Security?
Is Anti-Aging Technology a Cause for Societal and Economic
Concern?
Will there be Generational Conflict with the Aging of the
Population?
What is the Role for Employer-Sponsored Pensions?
"The treatment of old
people in America, many of whom have a hard life behind them, is
remarkable . . . [This is illustrated by] the terrifying extent
to which old people are left in poverty and destitution. . . It
cannot possibly be the considered opinion of the majority of
Americans that so many of those who in America are often called
senior citizens should be left in misery, squalor and often
forbidding loneliness, unattended though they are in need of
care. The situation is overripe for a radical reform of the old
age security system."
-Gunnar Myrdal, Challenge to Affluence (1963)
We will examine a range of controversial issues in aging and
economics. You will learn economic tools that will enable you to
analyze these controversial issues. This course is very
interactive and will involve students active participation in
debates and presentations. There will be guest speakers who
specialize in aging. You will have opportunities to examine the
economic consequences of population aging and the economic
status of the aged. Topics of discussion include: income
adequacy in old age, dependency, work income, retirement income
planning, social security income, employer-sponsored pensions,
financing health care, as well as economic security today and
tomorrow.
Course Pre-Requisites: Econ 315 or Econ 310 Intermediate
Microeconomics
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