Principles in Health Economics and Policy

A concise introduction to health economics and its application to health policy for students and health professional with no background in economics. Introduces the subject of economics, explains the fundamental failures in the market for health care, and discusses the concepts of equity and fairness when applied to health and health care.

Jan Abel Olsen is a professor of health economics and health services research at the Department of Community Medicine, University of TromsÃ-, Norway. He is an adjunct professor at the Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Australia, and a part-time researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. His eclectic research interests include measurement and valuation of health outcomes, efficiency vs equality in health and health care, primary care financing, and social epidemiology. He has published extensively in leading journals in these fields, and has served as an advisor to various governmental bodies and commissions.

1: Health and healthcare
2: Economics and efficiency
3: What makes the market for healthcare different?
4: Equality and fairness
5: Determinants of (inequalities in) health: An overview
6: Exogenous determinants of health
7: The social environment and health
8: Health related behaviour
9: Funding sources: An overview
10: Uncertainty and health insurance
11: Prepayment schemes
12: Patient payments
13: The healthcare delivery system: An overview
14: Primary care: Paying general practitioners
15: Secondary care: Hospital financing
16: Unwarranted variations in healthcare utilization
17: Economic evaluation and priority setting: An overview
18: Benefits from improved health
19: Costs and the cost-effectiveness threshold
20: Beyond cost-effectiveness: Priority setting
Index