Readings

Question 1

What was Papanicolas’ study?

Answer 1

Study on healthcare spending in the US compared to other high-incoming countries

Question 2

What was Papanicolas’ data source?

Answer 2

OECD data on structural equipment, workforce, utilization, pharmaceuticals spending, access, and quality

Question 3

What were Papanicolas’ key findings?

Answer 3

• healthcare use of social spending was not different between countries, however price of labor and good and administrative costs were

Question 4

What are public and private policy implications of Papanicolas’ study?

Answer 4

• public: government control over pricing of drugs
• private: ACOs - promote care coordination to reduce admin costs and promote communication among providers while ensuring health standards

Question 5

What are some limitations of the Papanicolas study?

Answer 5

• limited comparable data across health systems and countries
• data on prices across systems were lacking
• differences in practices

Question 6

What is the Baicker study?

Answer 6

To develop a evidence-based health policy

Question 7

What are the key suggestions of the Baicker paper?

Answer 7

• well specified healthcare policy
• distinguish between policies and goals
• requires evidence of the magnitude of the effects of the policy

Question 8

What are some public and policy implications of the Baicker paper?

Answer 8

• will change how policies are listed as according to this paper they should be separate from goals

Question 9

What are the limitations of the Baicker paper?

Answer 9

• nuances of evidence are lost when evidence is deployed in policy debates
• evidence cant guarantee the policy will work

Question 10

What is the Arrow study?

Answer 10

The paper that evaluates the medical-care industry and its efficacy

Question 11

What are the key findings of the Arrow paper?

Answer 11

• market failures are due to information asymmetry
• 1st Theorem: equilibrium is Pareto optimal
• 2nd Theorem: if there are no increasing returns to production, every optimal state is a competitive equilibrium that corresponds to initial allocation of goods

Question 12

What is the Aron-Dine study?

Answer 12

The one that looked at RAND

Question 13

What was the data source of Aron-Dine’s study?

Answer 13

RAND

Question 14

What are the key findings of the Aron-Dine paper?

Answer 14

• more coverage -> higher utilization
• 3 threats to internal validity (non random assignment, differential participation across plans, differential reporting across plans)

Question 15

What are the limitation of the Aron-Dine study?

Answer 15

• self selection - people opt out midway & report differently
• does not describe clinical outcomes