Gavin Mooney

A century ago, health services absorbed few resources and provided little benefit. Since then, advances in medical knowledge and techniques have escalated both the benefits and the costs. The affordability of health services is being questioned in even the richest countries, and the economic aspects of health policy have become ever more intrusive. Australia is no exception, with its health system now absorbing 19% of all government tax revenue. Familiarity with economic issues - such as how to assess health outcomes, how to assign resources efficiently and what financial arrangements will promote equity as well as efficiency - is essential to understanding health policy. This is especially so at a time when the economics of health care are being internationally re-examined, with new forms of competition, challenges to public ownership and case-mix funding of hospitals under scrutiny, and a re-evaluation of the benefits of pharmaceuticals and new technologies underway. Economics and Australian Health Policy offers this understanding to readers with and without formal economic training. It starts with an introduction to both the economic way of thinking about health systems, and the context in which those economic questions are raised - the structure of the Australian health system, its culture and its patterns of financial flows. It then describes and appraises from an economic perspective the major components of the system and the policy issues which arise. This collection has been specially commissioned to address both Australia's most pressing policy issues and the needs of public health and health economic policy-makers, academics, commentators and students. The list of contributors reads like a who's who in Australian health economics, who have been encouraged, clearly successfully, to write accessibly yet with authority and conviction.

Gives an understanding of the economic theory underlying health economics, supplemented with practical case study material to show how the theory has been applied.

This book mounts a critique of current health economics and provides a better way of looking at the economics of health and health care. It argues that health economics has been too dominated by the economics of health care and has largely ignored the impact of poverty, inequality, poor housing, and lack of education on health. It is suggested that some of the structural issues of economies, particularly the individualism of neo liberalism which is becoming more and more pervasive across the globe, need to be addressed in health economics. The author instead proposes a form of collective decision making through communitarianism, placing value on participation in public life and on institutions, such as health care. It is envisaged this form of decision making can be used at the local, national or global levels. For the last, this would mean a major revamp of global institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. Examples of the impact of the new paradigm on health policy in general but also more specifically on priority setting and equity are included.

The first text to comprehensively cover the financing and priorities of Australia's health system

This text introduces simple economics concepts and some of the ways in which economic analysis can contribute to health service policymaking. It covers the concept of the market for health care, the problems of determining and measuring the output of the health care sector, and the relationship between consumer demand and the professional's assessment of need. It examines medical ethics and equity which both tend to conflict with efficiency, and alternative financing systems for health care. The second edition has been updated to reflect new work, making it indispensable for all concerned with health care management. This introductory text will prove essential reading for both teachers and professionals in health service management, and social and public policy courses which focus on health. Contents: Preface to the First Edition; Preface to the Second Edition; Introduction; Economics and Health Economics; The Nature of the Commodity; Health Status Measurement; Values in Healthcare; Need, Demand and the Agency Relationship; The Inefficiency of Medical Ethics; Just Health Care: Only Medicine; Healthcare Financing and Organization; Future Challenge.

Gives an understanding of the economic theory underlying health economics, supplemented with practical case study material to show how the theory has been applied.