Go to The Economics of Health Care
Unit 1. The problems of health care Page 11
1
 viii. Questions
i. Approaching the problems
                     
Questions

1. Look at the following statements and see if you can decide whether they are positive or normative

  1. Junior doctors ought not to work up to 80 hours a week
  2. The long hours junior doctors work do not interfere with their ability to provide effective medical treatment
  3. The waiting times for routine surgery are shorter for private patients than for NHS patients
  4. NHS doctors should not be allowed to treat patients privately
  5. A hip replacement is not a life-saving operation
  6. Hip replacements should not be provided by the NHS.



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2. Why do you think that economists believe that it is important to distinguish between positive and normative statements? Do you think it is possible to ever be completely positive?


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Activities

A1. Set up a survey to try to discover which health care priorities people in your school or college think are most important. You could do this by interviewing a sample of students or you could construct a questionnaire.
ii. Scarcity - health care dimension
                      
A2. Research how demand for health care has changed in your area. Your local library should have information about the health care services available. Try to answer the following questions. Has the number of old people changed significantly in the last 10 years? What about new treatments - does your doctor offer stress counselling for instance? Has your local hospital introduced new equipment such as body scanners?
iii. Scarcity - a theoretical approach
                     


Figure 5

Questions

3. a) The graph in Figure 5 on the left shows a PPF. Identify the following combinations:

  1. 60 bypass and 19 other operations;
  2. 15 bypass and 54 other operations;
  3. 40 bypass and 40 other operations;
  4. 40 bypass and 58 other operations.


b) Which of these are feasible and which are efficient?

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4. Why is it unlikely that society will choose either combination E or F in Figure 5?

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Activity

A3. Many hospitals have been reduced in size or closed down. Research why this happened. Try to relate it to changes in the trade-off between hospitals and other forms of health care.
iv. Trade-offs
                     
 
Questions

5. Which do you think is more important - that we treat all patients with kidney failure in the same way or that we make sure that we devote more health care resources to kidney failure than to plastic surgery? Justify your answer.

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6. Do you think that the rich should contribute more to the financing of health care than the poor? Justify your answer.

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