SOCI 152 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Medicaid, Medical Ethics, Adverse Selection
Document Summary
Beveridge (tax-funded; national/universal system) v. bismarck (employer-employee) Medical ethics/ norms used sliding fee scales. Previously major costs was replacing income, not actual services. Cannot be informed over what type of healthcare needs to be consumed. Systems works because unsure which type - healthy, sick. Unhealthy benefit because paying less than should. Healthy benefit from less need to save for crises. Arguably, one single fund pools all to reduce risk the most. Purchaser knows more than insurance so insurance needs to guess. If buyers not willing to pay, then leave market. Insurance thinks only unhealthy/risky left in market causing a vicious circle with higher prices. Regulation as a way to maintain affordability, universality, and coherence. Private plans spend up to 20% on administration. Specialists, medication, high-tech, and tests are costly and service intensive. Concentrated funders (buyers) can leverage price and provider compensation. Individuals will only buy insurance if willing to pay the price charged by.
