Healthcare Economics: Balancing Principles with Ethical Considerations

This essay delves into the application of economic principles such as trade, choice, opportunity costs, scarcity, and the law of demand within the healthcare industry, analyzing both the potential positive and negative impacts. It emphasizes the challenges healthcare organizations face in balancing these economic principles with the critical issues of health, life, and death when making policy decisions and engaging in strategic planning. The essay further explores the ethical dilemma of assigning monetary value to human life within the context of healthcare resource allocation and pricing, highlighting the importance of affordable access to healthcare irrespective of financial background. It concludes by underscoring the role of healthcare policymakers in devising medical aid plans and treatment pricing strategies that prioritize patient access to quality care without compromising ethical standards.

Running head: ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
Response 1:
According to Huang et al. (2014), it has been mentioned that the application of
economic thinking to develop an understanding about the utilization of resource use within
the healthcare organizational sector is critical and at the same time extremely challenging.
This is primarily on account of the criticalities involved in the provision of health care
delivery within a hospital setting. As stated by Posner (2014), it has been mentioned that the
major lacunae in boosting the healthcare market share relies upon the absence of
characteristics that determine a fixed market price and the underlying economic value of the
resources used within the sector. It should be crucially noted that the production theory can
be effectively used for better resource allocation within a healthcare setting. Also, it can help
in determining the level of effective resource use. The fundamental basis of applying the
principles of economy to the healthcare sector is dependent upon the data accumulated by the
epidemiologists, which help in understanding the nature of a specific disease outbreak within
a concerned population base. Further, on the basis of the collected data, the healthcare
organizations can implement effective policies to render quality services for positive patient
outcome.
Response 2:
The hallmark of a successful healthcare organization is dependent upon the quality of
the services rendered to the patient in alignment with the affordability of the treatment
charges. It is important to understand here, that the pricing of the treatment interventions and
allied services is majorly dependent upon the nature of the care. However, access to
healthcare facilities is the right of every client irrespective of their financial background. This
is majorly because imposing a monetary value on the life of the patients is against the ethical
code of conduct of the healthcare profession. Therefore, to create a balance and ensure

2ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
improved service access to the patients, the healthcare policy makers devise appropriate
medical aid plans in order to offer assistance to patients with critical and prolong illness. In
addition to this, the policy makers of different healthcare organizations come up with
treatment prices that offer discounts and emergency wavier of surcharges to ensure that
patients get proper access to treatment facility (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014). Hence, it can be
mentioned that the primary agenda of the healthcare organizations is to critically make sure
that pricing does not adversely impact the life of the patients.

3ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHCARE
References:
Blumenthal, D., & Collins, S. R. (2014). Health care coverage under the Affordable Care
Act—a progress report.pp.87
Huang, C. D., Behara, R. S., & Goo, J. (2014). Optimal information security investment in a
Healthcare Information Exchange: An economic analysis. Decision Support
Systems, 61, 1-11.
Posner, R. A. (2014). Economic analysis of law. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.pp.77-79