ECON 346 - Health Economics

In this course we will use methods from microeconomics to investigate how different aspects of the health care system function and to assess the implications for different policies designed to improve that functioning. We will examine the special features of medical care as a commodity, the demand for medical care services, the economic explanations for the behavior of medical care providers (physicians and drug companies), and the functioning of insurance market. We will also be examining the role of and economic justification for government involvement in medical care. Topics to be studied will include: health care market structures; determinants of the demand for and supply of health care; the interrelationships between insurance, supply, demand, and technological innovation; proposed health policy reforms in insurance markets, and international comparisons of health care systems and outcomes. We will use the tools we have learned to review and analyze Obamacare and various other proposals for health care reform. Restricted to School of Business majors. Offered every spring.

Prerequisite(s): ECON 210.