Economics in health care

Abstract

IntroductionThe development of medicine in the last three decades has brought not only new diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities, but also new thinking about health in its interdisciplinary understanding. It is also a period in which wide-ranging actions for public health were undertaken through decisions made by politicians, economists and health care representatives. Measures expressed mathematically are used in health measurements, especially those concerning the entire population. There are three groups of measures of the health condition of the population: positive, negative and the so-called synthetic measures of health condition which combine, apart from health measures, many other elements. Aim The aim of the work is to analyze the economics of health care.Material and method Review of the available literature on the subject.ResultsA different approach related to the economic efficiency of access to public goods is the concept of investment in human capital. Grossman developed the theoretical foundations for such an understanding of the choices related to health and its protection in the 1970s. Grossman's theory is treated as a model of human capital. An important element of Grossman's model is the distinction between health treated as a product, i.e. a basic good, which is a source of utility for people, and medical care treated as a factor in the production of health. In Grossman's model, people both demand and produce health. Health is treated as a good produced by humans through various means, such as diet, healthy eating, a healthy lifestyle, and medical care. The efficiency of health production depends on the knowledge and education of the society. Medical care is only one input into health production. According to the presented model, each person at birth has a specific health resource that exhibits capital characteristics. This health is amortized with age, but it can also be increased (accumulated) by investing in it, e.g. by doing sports, eating healthy and also by protecting health. ...