This overview starts by giving a brief introduction to the economic theory of advertising, including a short presentation of the two main models of advertising and discussion of how advertising affects market outcomes in light of these two models. These theoretical underpinnings are then used to discuss the causes and potential effects of advertising in
Concepts of health and illness in human society originated from traditional religious views about life and death. One of the first sociologists to study religion was Emile Durkheim, who found that distinctions between ideas about the sacred and profane were connected to notions of health and illness. Religious views of the sacred body, for example
Introduction There is an enormous literature evaluating and comparing health insurance systems around the world, which this article attempts to synthesize while emphasizing systems in developed countries. The authors’ approach is to provide an overview of the dimensions along which health insurance systems differ and provide immediate comparisons of various countries in tabular form. To
What Is Microinsurance? Microinsurance does not have a single accepted definition. However, two well-known sources provide high-level definitions and describe salient traits that help establish what microinsurance is and what it is not. These are introduced in this section and used throughout this article to anchor the discussion. Dror and Jacquier’s seminal work coined the
This article addresses the general topic of ‘managed care,’ which Kongstvedt, author of the standard reference on the topic, has characterized as ‘‘…..regrettably nebulous’’ but ‘‘…. at the very least,….is a system of health care delivery that tries to manage the cost of health care, the quality of that care, and access to care. Common
A number of countries mandate that individuals purchase health insurance, a policy referred to as mandatory health insurance (MHI). It requires that all or a large part of the population purchase health insurance, which covers a substantial part of healthcare costs. This article reviews the reasons for this policy, considers issues in implementing MHI, and
What Is Medicare? The US Medicare program began in 1965 to address issues of access to care for three groups of Americans: the aged, the disabled, and people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease). (The Medicaid program, also begun in 1965, covers low-income Americans.) Enrollees in Medicare
Private health insurers play a large role in providing financial protection against the high cost of medical care in the United States. In 2010, approximately 64% of the overall US population had some form of private health insurance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) project that aggregate private health
It is evident that lack of (or poor) insurance coverage is a barrier to access healthcare. Evidence that insurance status is linked to access to healthcare seems overwhelming: those with insurance always use substantially more than those without. Economists tend to be more skeptical, for the following two reasons: they question the causality behind the
Cost shifting exists when a hospital, physician group, or other provider raises prices for one set of buyers because it has lowered prices for some other buyer. The term has also been applied to managed care firms that are similarly said to have raised premiums for one set of purchasers because it had to lower