Open AccessWhy the Economic Aspects of Healthcare are not Unique
Author(s) -
Stephen Chambers
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
sultan qaboos university medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.258
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 2075-0528
pISSN - 2075-051X
DOI - 10.18295/squmj.2020.20.02.006
Subject(s) - health care , information asymmetry , medicine , differential (mechanical device) , healthcare industry , health professionals , business , economics , economic growth , finance , aerospace engineering , engineering
Frequent claims suggest that healthcare and its production are not only different from other goods, but that they differ to such an extent that healthcare should be viewed as unique. Various features of healthcare, such as the lack of a perfect market and the existence of information asymmetry, are cited as evidence of this claim. However, such a view results from unduly emphasising the characteristics of healthcare as being atypical. This article redresses this imbalance by taking an alternative approach and examines the ways in which the economic aspects of healthcare are similar to those of other goods. It was found that the differential aspects are less distinctive than claimed and the economic aspects of healthcare are not unique.