Meeting: Tues Thurs 10.30 - 11.50 a.m.
Wellman 230
Office Hours: Wednesday 2.00-3.30 p.m.
Thursday 9.00-10.20 a.m.
TEACHING ASSISTANT:
Maththew
Larsen mflarsen@ucdavis.edu SSH 0121
Discussion Section: Tuesday
7.10-8.00 p.m. Wellman 7
Tuesday 8.10-9.00 p.m. Wellman 7
T.A. Office Hours: Tuesday 4.00-5.00 p.m.
Wednesday 11.00a.m.-noon
COURSE GOALS:
The course goals are:
(1) Provide a detailed description of the institutional
features of the health care market and current trends in this rapidly
changing field;
(2) Demonstrate the use and
usefulness of analyzing the health care market using economic
analysis, particularly microeconomics, and some
statistical/mathematical analysis.
Compared to other areas of economics, health economics is
complicated by a lack of information (about what health services the
consumer needs), great uncertainty (hence insurance) and payment
through third-parties (insurance companies) rather than direct payment
by the consumer.
Pre-requisites:
Economics 100 (intermediate
microeconomics) or consent of instructor.
Mathematics 16A-B: these are a
pre-requisite for Economics 100.
Statistics 13:
As health involves randomness and uncertainty (hence the
need for insurance) I assume you have taken introductory statistics.
The course will go through a number of detailed data
analysis
examples. It is very helpful to have taken Economics 102 or its
equivalent (regression analysis).
Textbook:
Thomas E. Getzen, Health Economics: Health Economics
and Financing, 3rd ed., Wiley, 2007.
[You can also get by with the second edition of this book.]
Supplementary Material:
On sale at Davis Copy Shop (231 Third) is C. Cameron: Coursepack for Health Economics 132.
This includes overheads and the
readings discussed in class and
used in assignments and exams.
The most important materials are lectures and the coursepack.
I also assume you have access to the textbook, which I understand is
expensive.
At least one copy of the textbook will be available on two-hour reserve
at the library.
COURSE OUTLINE:
A. Overview of U.S. Health Market
Class 1. Getzen Ch.1 +
Supplemental Notes.
B. Economics of Health Insurance
Classes 2-4. Getzen Chs.4-5 + Supplemental Notes + Readings 1-2.
B1. Health insurance
in U.S.
B2. Risk pooling
B3. Risk aversion
B4. Adverse Selection
B5. Moral Hazard
B6.
Rand Health Insurance Experiment
C. Managed Care (HMO's and PPO's) and managed
competition
Classes 5-6. Getzen Ch.10 +
Supplemental Notes + Reading 3.
*** Class 7 Midterm Exam 1 Thursday October 15 ***
D. Economic Evaluation of Health Care Services
Classes 8-9. Getzen Ch.3
+ Supplemental Notes + Reading 4.
E. Users (Demand)
Class 10. Getzen Ch.2 +
Supplemental Notes
F. Providers: Physicians, Hospitals and
Pharmaceuticals
Classes 11-12. Getzen
ch.6; 8, 9.4, 9.7
G. Government's Role in Health Care
Classes 13-14. Getzen Chs.14-15.
*** Class 15 Midterm Exam 2 Thursday November 12 ***
H1. Medical Technology
Class 16. Getzen
Ch.16.9 and Table 19.1 + Supplemental
Notes + Reading 5.
H3. International Health
Comparisons
Class 19. Getzen Ch.17.1-17.3 + Supplemental
Notes.
COURSE GRADING:
Midterm Exam1: 22.5% Thursday
October 15 (Topics A,
B, C)
Midterm Exam2: 22.5% Thursday
November 12 . (Topics
D, E, F)
Assignments:
10% Due 1.40 p.m. Oct 1 (Th), 8
(Th), 29(Th); Nov 5 (Th), 24 (Tu); Dec 3 (Th).
Final
Exam:
45% Friday Dec 11 1.00-3.00 p.m. Comprehensive.
Assignments will be graded satisfactory (2%) or unsatisfactory (0%). Full solutions will be distributed. Satisfactory means a serious attempt to answer at least 80% of the questions. The lowest of the scores on the six assignments is dropped, i.e. no penalty for not handing in one assignment if the other five are graded satisfactory. No credit for late assignments. Academic honesty is required - see below.
Exams are closed book with a mixture of short
answer (about two-thirds) and multiple choice (about one-third)
questions.
The final exam is comprehensive: about 50%
on material up to the second midterm and 50% on the remainder.
Scores are posted at Smartsite. You have one
week from when work is first returned in class to raise any questions
about grading.
AFTER THE FINAL EXAM IS TAKEN
NO CHANGES
WILL BE
MADE FOR ANY REASON TO ANY SCORES RECORDED ON SMARTSITE.
Course grade is determined by the total score,
with weights given above. The assignments are graded on a generous
scale (satisfactory or unsatisfactory), so most students will get full
credit on the assignment portion. Therefore for most students the
course score is determined by
scores on the quizzes and exams. To indicate your progress I give a
grade
on each midterm. But the final grade is determined by summing the exam
and assignment scores (and not by averaging the grades).
I follow the department grading policy: "To
ensure fairness and consistency in grading, the Department expects that
the GPA in Economics 1A, 1B, 100, 101, and 102 will average 2.4. For
example, a distribution with 20% A's, 30% B's, 30% C's, 10% D's, and
10% F's could be consistent with an overall GPA of 2.4. In more
advanced courses the GPA is typically somewhat higher (2.7)."