Go to The Economics of Health Care		Page 2
	1. The problems of health care
Sections i. Approaching the problems ii. Scarcity - health care dimension iii. Scarcity - a theoretical approach iv. Trade-offs v. Using the theory vi. Case study - Child B vii. Approaches to rationing viii. Questions and activities		Helth care is something which touches all of our lives. Everybody visits the doctor and dentist and many of us have been treated in hospital. The future of the National Health Service (NHS) consistently surfaces as one of the most important issues which people believe is facing Britain today. Yet health care seems to be in almost permanent crisis - there are shortages of hospital beds and patients are left to lie in corridors while politicians argue endlessly over whether more or less is being spent on the NHS. Why is it that health care is such a controversial area? Why is there never enough money to give us the level of health care we want? To answer these questions we need to introduce and apply a range of economic concepts. Each of the sections listed on the left develops part of the answer.