EC248 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Health Human Resources, Physician Supply, Complementary Good
Document Summary
Need: health care need does not depend on and individuals preferences but the: Individuals health status: availability of an effective health care that can improve health, social judgement about what constitutes a need vs. want. Demand: the expression of a desire to obtain health care, depends on an individual"s preferences and resources. The demand for health care (interacted with the supply of health care) determines utilization. Utilization is being the only one of the three as directly observable: health human resource planning. Determining the quantity of physician or non-physician labour to supply, often accepts observed patterns of utilization as representing need. Studies looking at correlations such as how use of health care services differ between high- income and low-income individuals, controlling for other determinants of utilization often find a pro-rich bias (even when it is free) However, this approach fails to recognize some pro-rich bias may arise from differences in the demand for health care by those of differing incomes.
