The Role and Significance of Economic Analysis in the Allocation of Resources Within Health Care - Essay Example

The role and significance of economic analysis in the allocation of resources within health care The role and significance of economic analysis in the allocation of resources within health care Introduction The paper revolves around the issue of critical consideration on the role and significance of economic analysis during the allocation of resources within the healthcare sector. Since 1989, the healthcare sector in the UK has been the major subject to the increasing marketisation and offered a testing ground for both the traditional and modern theories of competition. Nonetheless, it is still faced with the issue of increasing competition in healthcare which still remains a contentious area. As such, the students will get an opportunity to conduct research on a broad range of topics based on varied perspectives. In particular, the paper will focus on the main beneficiary when it comes to the privatization of the insurance policies. Most of the time, the insurance is provided to assist the patients. However, there are those times that it seemingly is of more benefit to the producer than it does the intended patients. The Prima Facie Research question Does the privatization of Medicare generally increase the surplus for individuals or the producers for the insurance companies or the providers of healthcare? Supporting Research Questions To what extent has the implementation of different government policies led to the restructuring of the healthcare parameters in most of the countries and especially in the UK? What are some of the strategic interests in investment that have been done from the corporate sector with regard to the healthcare services and products? What is the impact of neo liberalization in the healthcare sectors in the United Kingdom? Justification A number of governments have made efforts to improve their healthcare sector in the recent past. There has been a redirection of the government policies towards the institutions that are funded publicly. According to most individuals, these changes in the government policies towards the privatization of the institutions that are run publicly in the effort to improve the goods and services in the healthcare sector has seen a lot of changes in the corporate sector. Although it is considered by many as a step towards the promotion of efficiency and increased choices for patients, other view it with a lot of skepticism. They consider the privatization of insurance and healthcare funds as a huge threat to the large public institutions that provide services and protect the rights of those who are underprivileged. Relevance of the research question The research questions are highly relevant to the healthcare sector in many different countries. One of the main ones is the UK where the government has made a lot of radical changes to privatize the entire system in the effort to make its healthcare services and goods available to all. On the other hand, besides the patients who are the main stakeholders in terms of the reception of the healthcare services, there are also the producers and the large public institutions that are likely to benefit from the efforts that are conducted by the government as a result of privatization. As such, the research questions will be highly relevant since they will help the nation state to make adequate plans, monitor and regulate the health needs of the entire population. In addition, the large public institutions that assist those who are less privileged in attaining high quality medical services will also be assisted. In this sense, the prima facie question is also related to several other prima facie questions that have been raised in a number of researches that have been conducted in the same field. As indicated by Shattes and Chiatti (2012, p. 395), with the introduction of privatization of healthcare, a number of institutions have been able to produce similar and positive outcomes especially as pertains to the employment of migrant workers. This shows that both the producers and recipients of the services have benefitted greatly. They therefore provide an answer to their prima facie question on what the benefits of migrant labor and marketisation of health care are to the provision of services to the elderly. In the same sense Hall, Alcock and Miller (2012, p. 735) show that as a result of the benefits of marketisation to the producers and patients, most of the efforts have been made towards the promotion of privatization of most of the services that are delivered to the public. In this case, the prima facie research question is: what is the start up and sustainability level of the marketisation and social investment fund in England?” On the contrary, Benoit et. All (20123, p. 68) reveal that there are extra and hidden costs that come with privatization and marketisation of healthcare services especially for new mothers. It reveals some of the strategies that are used by the producers to blind those that receive the services. These have to be investigated by the government to find solutions. In the need to use government policies to make improvements in the healthcare sector, Pollock and Price (2011, p. 300) provide their prima facie question as how the new coalition government in the UK has been able to turn over the global health services. In essence, this has been through the efforts towards privatization and marketisation of the services. Additionally, Lewis and Abraham (1999, pp. 1655-67) make attempts to find answers to the question that pertains to how the harmonization and setting of various regulation can help in the enhancement of various drug policies and the approval of healthy systems. This is related in the way that it shows the need for new approaches to ensure that the benefits of privatization are achieved. Most Relevant Parties The economics of health sector is one of those that encompass a wide range of institutions and individuals. It is composed of a number of stakeholders who have the interest of the public and especially the patients at heart. They include those who produce healthcare services and goods both in a direct and indirect manner. With regards to the privatization of Medicare, and the National Health Service as well as the global marketisation of the healthcare system, there are several parties that are involved. One of the major ones is the patient who is expected to benefit more than the producer. Privatization of the healthcare systems is usually performed with the main aim of providing relief to the patients by making sure that the provision of services is made as efficient as possible. The other parties include the healthcare institutions that provide goods and services directly to the patients. They are affected in the sense that they stand to gain from the payments that are made. This calls for the formulation of proper strategies to ensure that the private institutions that are concerned with the provision of funds for the public health appropriately cater for the services that are provided. Some of the other parties that will greatly benefit from the research are the large public institutions that fight for the rights of the public to get quality healthcare services and goods. Finally, the government will also benefit since the research will highlight some of the problems are encountered in the effort to privatize the healthcare systems. As such, it will provide a chance to identify the various problems and in turn help the government to make the appropriate strategies and employ the right approaches to increase the efficiency of the goods and services provided. Conclusion Many governments have made efforts to ensure that a large population of their citizens is able to access quality services. One of the major areas that have been focused on includes the healthcare sector where a number of efforts have been made to realize some improvements. One of the areas that have highly been highlighted in this field includes the need to privatize healthcare so as to ensure that the goods and services reach as many individuals as possible. However, although most of these efforts are aimed towards the citizens and especially the patients it has been realized that the greater benefit is attained by the producers of the services. This has called for the performance of more research to ensure that the wider public benefits as is expected. With this, the changes in various approaches and strategies will greatly help in the achievement of these visions for all the parties that are involved in the provision and receipt of healthcare goods and services. Bibliography Benoit, Cecilia, Stengel, Camille, Phillips, Rachel, Zadoroznyj, Maria, & Berry, Sarah, 2012. Privatisation & marketisation of post-birth care: the hidden costs for new mothers. International Journal for Equity in Health. Vol. 11 (1): p61-69 Collyer, Fran & White, Kevin, 2011. The privatisation of Medicare and the National Health Service, and the global marketisation of healthcare systems. Health Sociology Review. Vol. 20 (3): p238-244. Hall, Kelly, Alcock, Pete & Millar, Ross, 2012. Start Up and Sustainability: Marketisation and the Social Enterprise Investment Fund in England. Journal of Social Policy. Vol. 41 (4), p733-749. Lewis, G., & Abraham, J., 1999. Harmonising and competing for medicines regulation: how healthy are the European Unions systems of drug approval? Social Science & Medicine, Jun; Vol. 48 (11), pp. 1655-67. Pollock, Allyson M.& Price, 2011. David The final frontier: The UKs new coalition government turns the English National Health Service over to the global health care market. Health Sociology Review. Vol. 20 (3), p294-305. Shutes, Isabel, & Chiatti, Carlos, 2012. Migrant labour and the marketisation of care for older people: The employment of migrant care workers by families and service providers. Journal of European Social Policy. Vol. 22 Issue 4, p392-405. Read More