We review in considerable detail the conceptual and measurement issues that underlie construction of medical care price indexes in the US, focusing in particular on the medical care consumer price indexes (MCPIs) and medical-related producer price indexes (MPPIs). We outline salient features of...

This paper is concerned with the economics of mental health. We argue that mental health economics is like health economics only more so: uncertainty and variation in treatments are greater; the assumption of patient self-interested behavior is more dubious; response to financial incentives such...

An important consideration when establishing priorities in health care is the likely effect that alternative allocations will have on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the relevant population. This chapter considers some of the important issues surrounding the description and...

Equity in health has to be distinguished from equity in access to health care, or equity in the distribution of health care resources. We take as a working definition of health for our purposes the number of quality adjusted life years that a person may expect to enjoy over his or her lifetime....

Prevention ranges from medical decisions such as vaccinations and clinical preventive services delivered during periodic health examinations to private health lifestyle decisions such as regular exercise and non-smoking. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of economic issues that...

In the 1990s many countries have chosen to use prospective payment arrangements for health plans (e.g., health insurers, sickness funds or HMOs) together with health plan competition, as a means of creating incentives to be cost conscious, while preserving quality, innovation and responsiveness...

We discuss and critique the main lines of economic research that address the economic status and behavior of the working-age population of people with disabilities. We define this population as those with physical or mental limitations that impede their daily activities or their productivity on...

With the spread of cost-based hospital payment systems in the United States in the 1960s, and the implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1966, rapidly rising hospital costs imposed unexpected pressures on Federal and state budgets and generated a demand for regulatory...

While the tobacco industry ranks among the most substantial and successful of economic enterprises, tobacco consumption is associated with more deaths than any other product. Economic analysis of the markets for tobacco products, particularly cigarettes, has contributed considerable insight to...

General (or family) practice and its role within primary care is increasingly regarded as the key to achieving efficiency and equity in many health care systems. This is particularly relevant where general practitioners (GPs) act as gatekeepers to specialist care. This chapter outlines the main...