ECONOMICS

ECONOMICS 375

The post consists of two asighnments

1:ECONOMICS 375

a. Illustrate with a production possibilities curve a state government’s choice
between additional funding for nursing homes and for community health centers.
b. Explain why you drew the production possibilities curve the way you did.
c. Explain the difference in opportunity costs between expanding community health
centers when society is operating efficiently vs. when some inefficiency exists in
the system. Illustrate your answer on the production possibilities curve.
d. What would happen to the production possibilities curve if the federal government
made available more resources for community health centers, with the only
proviso being that the state may not spend less on community health than it does
already. Illustrate in your graph.
2. Using the three legged stool of health economics, identify one problem with the US
health care system for each of the three ‘legs.’ How would you address each of these in a
perfect world?
3. Explain and show in a graph the relationship between health and utility. Explain both the
consumption and investment theories of why individuals get utility from health. How
does the law of diminishing marginal utility fit into the relationship?
4. Using a production function for health as a function of medical care to differentiate
between the effect of increased income on health in a wealthy country such as the U.S. vs.
in a relatively poor country such as Somalia. How would a change in environmental
quality affect the production function in either country (same effect)?
5. What relationship exists between education and health? Explain how education can
affect health, how health can affect education, and how a third characteristic can affect
both.
6. Distinguish between the human capital and willingness-to-pay approaches for
determining the value of a life. Why would you expect the willingness-to-pay approach to
generally estimate the value of a life to be higher than the human capital approach?
7. Should a program which is estimated to cost approximately $10,000 per QALY be
implemented? Why?
8. A particular treatment plan will cost a patient an initial outlay of $10,000 (year 0), $5,000
in the first year after that (year 1), and $1,000 per year for the next three years. Use a
discount rate of 5% (r = 0.05) to determine how high the benefit of this plan must be for it
to be cost effective.
9. Why isn’t the market for health care services organized according to a typical consumer
(patient) and producer (health provider) relationship?
10. Which of the following reimbursement and consumer copayment schemes have the
greatest and lowest likelihood of producing high-cost, low-benefit medicine? Explain
your answers.
a. Fee-for-service plan with 40 percent consumer copayment.
b. Prepaid health plan with 40 percent consumer copayment.
c. Fee-for-service plan with no consumer-cost sharing.
d. Fixed-salary plan with no consumer-cost sharing.
e. Prepaid health plan with no consumer-cost sharing.
f. Fixed-salary plan with 40 percent consumer-cost sharing.

2:Human Resources Issue Paper
Order Description
present a human resources issue in health care (thus there must be some sort of controversy), research the literature, analyze the alternatives, and present a
conclusion (take a stand). Potential topics may include issues related to diversity, globalization, change management, conflict resolution, competencies, engagement,
learning organizations, managing contract workers, telework, etc. The nursing shortage is not an acceptable topic.
The paper should be based on at least five current peer reviewed journal articles available through the UMUC Library database. The papers should be no more than 18
pages in length, not including the Title Page, and References.
Citations and format must be in APA style. This paper is designed to give you a model for presenting an issue to executive management and must include an Abstract
(included in the page count).
In the working world, you must be able to summarize complex issues and make a recommendation in a limited number of pages. Each paper should include:
1. Abstract
2. A brief statement of the issue (10 points)
3. Synopsis of the literature researched, including both the journal articles and any relevant information from the text or other non-scholarly sources. (20 points)
4. Examination of both sides of the issue (40 points)
5. Recommendation of how managers should deal with this issue if it presents itself in their organization. (10 points)
6. What was learned and how it will be applied in the student’s present situation. (10 points)
7. The paper should be in APA format, and the writing should be clear and understandable with correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. (10 points)

community health