Health Economics and Policy, International Edition (with InfoApps 2-Semester Printed Access Card) 4e

James W. Henderson, Baylor University 473pp Published by Cengage Learning, ©2009 Available Now £57.99

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HEALTH ECONOMICS AND POLICY WITH ECONOMIC APPLICATIONS, 4e, International Edition is a basic introduction to the microeconomics of health, health care, and health policy. This text demonstrates how economic principles apply to health-related issues. It explains the social, political, and economic contexts of health care delivery, and explores the changing nature of health care. Students learn to analyze public policy from an economic perspective. While the text was written for non-economics majors, it includes enough economic content to challenge majors.

Features

• Each chapter includes special features called "Issues in Medical Care Delivery" that summarize important studies in medical research, epidemiology, public health, and other fields as they relate to the economics of health care delivery.
• Most chapters include a profile of those who have made significant contributions to health economics. Many of these individuals are economists; some are physicians; all have had a profound impact on how we view health, health economics, and health policy.
• The "Back of the Envelope" features show the economic way of thinking, using graphs. Topics include: the valuation of a life; how to calculate a rate of return; the notion of elasticity; the welfare implications of subsidies; the impact of employer mandates; cost-benefit calculations; and the cost-effectiveness of disease prevention. Developing the ability to use models in this way is an important goal of this book.
• Ten key economic concepts are introduced in Chapter 1 to serve as unifying themes throughout the book. An icon in the margin reminds students that the adjacent material is related to that key concept.

Part I: THE RELEVANCE OF ECONOMICS IN HEALTH AND MEDICAL CARE.
1. U.S. Medical Care: Crisis or Conundrum.
2. Using Economics to Study Health Issues.
3. Analyzing Medical Care Markets.
4. Economic Evaluation in Health Care.
Part II: DEMAND-SIDE CONSIDERATIONS.
5. Demand for Health and Medical Care.
6. The Market for Health Insurance.
Part III: SUPPLY-SIDE CONSIDERATIONS.
7. Managed Care.
8. The Physicians' Services Market.
9. The Hospital Services Market.
10. The Market for Pharmaceuticals.
11. Confounding Factors.
Part IV: PUBLIC POLICY IN MEDICAL CARE DELIVERY.
12. Policies that Enhance Access.
13. Policies to Contain Costs.
14. Medical Care Systems Worldwide.
15. Medical Care Reform in the United States.
16. Lessons for Public Policy.

• The pharmaceutical part of Chapter 13 is now a separate chapter on "The Market for Pharmaceuticals" (Chapter 10). This chapter includes a new section on obesity, addressing this growing problem and its medical consequences.
• The four chapters in Part 4--Sociocultural Considerations (10), The Aging of the Population (11), The Legal System and Medical Malpractice (12), and Technology in Medicine (13)--have been merged into one and titled "Confounding Issues" (chapter 11). The focus is on differences between the U.S. and other developed countries.
• Chapter 11 compares and contrasts U.S. lifestyle, cultural, and economic characteristics to those of six developed countries.
• A section on the Swiss health care system has been added to Chapter 14, to introduce the role of market-driven responses to health care reform that are discussed in Chapter 15.
• New sections on consumer-directed health plans and the new Massachusetts health care plan highlight the discussion on market alternatives.
• All charts and tables have been updated to include the latest health care cost and outcomes data.

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James W. Henderson
James W. Henderson is the Ben H. Williams Professor of Economics at Baylor University where his teaching and research center on health economics and policy. Before joining the Baylor faculty, he was Vice President of Finance and Management at the Dallas Minority Business Center. Dr. Henderson’s economic research has appeared in Health Care Financing Review, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Rural Health, and PharmacoEconomics, and he has lectured in the U.K., South Africa, Mexico, Sweden, and the Ukraine. Dr. Henderson earned his Ph.D. at Southern Methodist University.