"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...

Definitions of health and illness -- Public health : defining determinants of health -- Health status indicators -- Role of culture in the organization of health care systems -- Political and philosophical values that influence the US health care system -- Do we have as system? -- People who...

section 1. Introduction : setting the context -- section 2. Functional description of the U.S. health and medical care system -- section 3. Political and economic values and health care financing -- section 4. Health care reform in the United States : targeted programs and consequences.

Recent data show wide disparity between Japan and the United States in the effectiveness of their health care systems. Japan spends close to the lowest percentage of its gross domestic product on health care among OECD countries, the United States spends the highest, yet life expectancies in...