Willingness to pay for publicly-financed health care: how should we use the numbers?

This paper addresses the question of how willingness to pay (WTP) values in health care evaluation can be used by policy makers. The way in which WTP values are used depends on from whom values are elicited and whether the good concerned is privately-financed or publicly-financed through taxation. Thus, four possible uses of WTP values are identified. The focus is on the two uses which arise in the publiclyfinanced situation. ‘Conventional’ use of WTP values, where the decision as to whether or not to provide a service depends upon whether or not WTP values are greater than total cost, applies only in the privately-financed, and not publiclyfinanced situations. The situations with publicly-financed goods are more complex. The use of WTP values for publicly-financed goods is justified and illustrated.     

Essential health care: affordable for all?

Access to affordable health care has become a national crisis. The uninsured have many faces and many reasons for being uninsured. The nation cannot afford to sustain this broken system; not in terms of resources, nor in terms of the deteriorating health of the public. Universal coverage could offer a promising opportunity to begin to ameliorate the unsustainable use of expensive illness care now substituting for effective low-cost prevention and early detection. A proposal for essential health care coverage, a balance between cost and choice to maximize use of beneficial care, is presented.     

The future of the Affordable Care Act: will we abandon health care reform?

With obstacles to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) growing, nurses need to continue to educate themselves about the ACA and the issues it is designed to address. While it has many shortcomings, the ACA invests in creating a new infrastructure that holds the potential to improve care quality and contain costs. Health economist Victor Fuchs suggests three areas must change if we are to have a health care system that is quality focused: information, infrastructure, and incentives. The current health care legislation is noble and lays a basis for future structural cost containment. The health care system continues to unravel as our politicians remain polarized over reform efforts. We must engage or we will never find solutions, never see reform.     

Leadership effectiveness: how do you measure up?

The purpose of this article is to provide leaders with a tool to collect accurate data of subordinate's perceptions. Leaders in the nursing profession must feel comfortable and be encouraged to seek the opinion of the staff they serve. Without actively seeking the feedback of subordinates there is no opportunity for personal growth and insight. So, while asking for staff feedback can be a "daring adventure" for any leader, leading staff who do not want to follow will result in an organization of "nothing" in today's health care arena.     

Why do we adopt environmentally friendly lawn care? Evidence from do-it-yourself consumers

This study identifies the factors determining the purchase frequencies of organic/natural fertilizers (ONFs) with a focus on do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers’ perceptions and motives. The estimation results of the generalized ordered logit model provide statistical evidence that environmental perceptions are critical factors in directing DIY consumers to purchase ONFs frequently. The results imply that educational programmes, informational campaigns, or advertisements to improve their perceptions on the potential negative impacts of fertilization on the environment may increase the purchase frequencies of ONFs. In addition, the results show that DIY consumers perceive that it is worth using ONFs despite their higher prices than chemical fertilizers. Their purchase frequencies will increase if they positively perceive the values of ONFs and are willing to pay a premium for ONFs. Moreover, the purchasing behaviour of DIY consumers is associated with their perceptions of neighbourhood landscaping. If neighbours or homeowner associations encourage landscaping improvements in their community, DIY consumers may increase their purchase frequencies of ONFs accordingly.     

Has the affordable care act affected health care efficiency?

Journal of Regulatory Economics - We utilize health care input and output data to evaluate how state-level efficiency in health care has changed in the wake of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We use...     

Economic evaluation in health: saving money or improving care?

Summary

Economic evaluation, most commonly in the form of cost-effectiveness analysis, has now become an established tool of overall health financing policy. However, health policy makers choose to use or ignore the accumulated body of economic evidence for a variety of reasons. This policy review takes a step back and looks objectively at the appropriate role and use of cost-effectiveness analysis within the broader context of health system financing, and also discusses a series of technical limitations (and potential solutions) that impact on the generation of a genuinely comparable economic evidence base in health at the population level. While the explicit purpose of economic evaluation is to address the health financing objective of efficiency, the authors conclude that its application can be usefully extended to other health system goals, including financial protection (specification of core public healthcare packages for universal insurance) and equity in financing (assessment of intervention costs and effects by stakeholder or socioeconomic group). In order to contribute to these broader objectives, a sectoral or population-based approach to cost-effectiveness analysis is needed.