The book Principles in Health Economics and Policy takes a different approach to the attempt at spreading ‘the health economics gospel’. Most textbooks in health economics are written by economists for economists. The standard approach in these books follows the vocabulary from economics with chapters on ‘supply’, ‘demand’, and ‘the market’ for health care. This book is different, in that its target readers are students and health professionals with no prior background in economics. The book addresses some universal health policy issues, and applies health economic analyses when discussing them. As such, the current book will appear much more policy relevant for the large number of non-economists doing a course in health economics as part of an increasing number of masters programmes in health related subjects, such as public health; epidemiology; health administration; health management; international health. The book is concise and compact, but contains less technical jargon and mathematics than what we find in most economics textbooks.
This book is based on the view that there are four principal questions facing health policy makers all over the world. No matter the differences between countries in their wealth and ideologies, these four questions tend to pop up constantly when health policy reforms are being discussed. The structure of this book reflects the following logical order of these questions: 1) How should society intervene in the determinants that affect health – in the social environment, and in people’s health-related choices? 2) How should health care be financed – patient payment, taxation, social insurance or private insurance? 3) How should health care providers such as primary care physicians and hospitals be paid – activity based or not, and which types of activities should be stimulated? 4) How should alternative health care programmes be evaluated when setting priorities – costs, outcomes, and what else?
Clearly, there are no universally correct answers to these questions. Since most health policy objectives can be understood as being concerned with efficiency and equity, the first part of the book explains these concepts. The book provides a concise introduction to the subject of economics, explains the fundamental failures in the market for health care, before discussing the concepts of equity and fairness as applied to health and health care.
