Question

Our decision-making only sometimes purely affects ourselves and it is very often the case that the decisions we make affect many people. In what ways is healthcare different from other economic decisions we make? What unique factors pertain to healthcare that don’t necessarily pertain to other economic or policy decisions? What does choice look like in healthcare? Is there such a thing?

Answer 1

Healthcare is different from other economic decisions we make in practical situations -

1. A person can bargain for the physical goods such as car, house, furniture etc. but a patient cannot bargain with doctor for his treatment
2. Healthcare consumers' lack the knowledge to make informed decisions. Example - when a particular treatment is not known by many health care consumers but in normal economic decisions, customer is very much aware of when to purchase the physical goods based on his necessity
3. In normal economic situations, buyers and sellers both look for the profit but in case of healthcare market, both patient and doctor look for the better result irrespective of the cost incurred
4. It is not feasible for healthcare consumers to buy it and hence they go for the healthcare insurance. On the other hand, other physical goods are purchasable by the consumer.

Unique factors pertaining to Healthcare from other economic decisions-

1. Profit is not the prime motive of health care consumers but profit is the prime motive for other economic decisions
2. Healthcare cannot be purchased rather treatment/medicines can be purchased but in case of other economic decision, physical goods and services are purchasable
3. When to go for which healthcare decision is not very much known to the healthcare consumers but when to purchase what physical goods is known decision for other customers

There is no choice for healthcare consumers to bargain for a particular kind of treatment rather he or she has to go through it as the only solution.