The share of increases in life expectancy realized after age 65 was only about 20 percent at the beginning of the 20th century for the United States and 16 other countries at comparable stages of development; but that share was close to 80 percent by the dawn of the 21st century, and is almost...

The papers in this symposium focus on two major issues of health economics in the context of President Clinton's Health Security Act: cost containment and labor market effects of financing insurance. The act proposes to limit public and private spending; a key issue is the extent to which,...

The forecast growth for Medicare spending has created a highly visible budgetary impasse between the president and Congress. Both favor the growth of health plans that accept risk and would promote them by creating less restrictive options than heretofore. Nonetheless, the conference bill the...

Hardly a week goes by without a front-page newspaper article on rising health care costs and the uninsured. In this article, I focus mainly on costs, arguing that the issue has been somewhat misconceived: while the level of medical care spending in the U.S. is a cause for concern, the welfare...

Victor Fuchs is a towering figure. His contributions to economics have spanned nearly 35 years. As his career has progressed, he has increasingly come to write on subjects of broad interest in a style that is accessible to noneconomists, thereby magnifying his influence. His gift is an ability...

In 2011, Bristol-Myers Squibb set the price of its newly approved melanoma drug ipilimumab—brand name Yervoy—at $120,000 for a course of therapy. The drug was associated with an incremental increase in life expectancy of four months. Drugs like ipilimumab have fueled the perception that the...

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has again become the focus of considerable controversy. In understanding the economics underlying this industry, distinctions between short, medium and long-run costs are critical, as is that between economic and accounting costs. Consumers' heterogeneous...