"Health Economics and Financing is a primer for the economic analysis of medical markets. Its intended audiences are students of medicine, public health, policy, and administration who wish to engage the central economic issues of their field without prolonged preparatory work; beginning...

The “state of the art” in forecasting long run medical spending is assessed in models used by CMS, CBO, and the Society of Actuaries. Tracking medical expenditures by nominal dollar growth and real per capita spending are useful, yet focusing on the share (of wages, laborforce, or GDP)...

As the forecasting perspective changes from short to medium to long run, the appropriate measure of health spending and the choice of which variables to hold constant, and which to include, changes. In the short run, current dollar spending is the best unit, and the primary factors affecting...