NUR 4280 Health Econ Final
A Laspeyres price index of health care inflation typically overestimates year to year increases in
the price of health. True or false? - Answer True. A Laspeyres price index does not take
quality changes or new innovations into account, so it may indicate rising prices for health care
when a given amount of health is actually becoming cheaper.
The price of curing Hodgkin's disease has risen substantially between 1950 and 2000. True or
false? - Answer False. In the 1950s, the price of a cure was effectively infinite, but now it is
finite. Treating Hodgkin's lymphoma, on the other hand, has gotten much more expensive
because so many new treatment options have become available.
The fact that total expenditures on heart attack care increased between 1984 and 1991 is good
evidence the price of surviving a heart attack increased. True or false? - Answer False. Total
expenditures have been increasing as heart attack care becomes more expensive, but it also
became more effective during this period. In this sense, the price of post-AMI survival
decreased.
The Dartmouth Atlas research project finds that health care spending varied widely between
different American cities in the early 2000s, and that Medicare enrollees in high-spending cities
were a lot healthier as a result. True or false? - Answer False. The Atlas does show wide
variation in spending levels, but it also finds that more expensive treatment did not tend to
result in better outcomes.
The Dartmouth Atlas results are proof that health is easier and/or cheaper to produce in some
American cities than others. True or false? - Answer False. That is one interpretation of the
results, but it is also possible that health is equally easy to produce everywhere, but certain
regions spend more on wasteful care due to supply-sensitive demand or local medical culture.
High health care expenditures in certain cities and states have been interpreted as evidence for
supply-sensitive care and heterogeneous local medical cultures. True or false? - Answer
TRUE. These factors could explain why certain regions spend more on care but do not achieve
better outcomes.
If medicare patients in Boston are paying more per capita for a hip replacement than medicare
patients in Boise for the same procedure, but health outcomes are exactly equal, then this is
evidence that Boston is wasteful in their health spending. True or false? - Answer FALSE.
Boston may have a lower health production function than Boise does and therefore may need
to spend more money in order to reach the same level of health as Boise.
One reason why total health expenditures are rising is because of an aging population. True or
false? - Answer TRUE. More people are getting older and therefore sicker, causing an
increase in demand for medical technology and treatments.
A Laspeyres price index of health care inflation typically overestimates year to year increases in
the price of health. True or false? - Answer True. A Laspeyres price index does not take
quality changes or new innovations into account, so it may indicate rising prices for health care
when a given amount of health is actually becoming cheaper.
The price of curing Hodgkin's disease has risen substantially between 1950 and 2000. True or
false? - Answer False. In the 1950s, the price of a cure was effectively infinite, but now it is
finite. Treating Hodgkin's lymphoma, on the other hand, has gotten much more expensive
because so many new treatment options have become available.
The fact that total expenditures on heart attack care increased between 1984 and 1991 is good
evidence the price of surviving a heart attack increased. True or false? - Answer False. Total
expenditures have been increasing as heart attack care becomes more expensive, but it also
became more effective during this period. In this sense, the price of post-AMI survival
decreased.
The Dartmouth Atlas research project finds that health care spending varied widely between
different American cities in the early 2000s, and that Medicare enrollees in high-spending cities
were a lot healthier as a result. True or false? - Answer False. The Atlas does show wide
variation in spending levels, but it also finds that more expensive treatment did not tend to
result in better outcomes.
The Dartmouth Atlas results are proof that health is easier and/or cheaper to produce in some
American cities than others. True or false? - Answer False. That is one interpretation of the
results, but it is also possible that health is equally easy to produce everywhere, but certain
regions spend more on wasteful care due to supply-sensitive demand or local medical culture.
High health care expenditures in certain cities and states have been interpreted as evidence for
supply-sensitive care and heterogeneous local medical cultures. True or false? - Answer
TRUE. These factors could explain why certain regions spend more on care but do not achieve
better outcomes.
If medicare patients in Boston are paying more per capita for a hip replacement than medicare
patients in Boise for the same procedure, but health outcomes are exactly equal, then this is
evidence that Boston is wasteful in their health spending. True or false? - Answer FALSE.
Boston may have a lower health production function than Boise does and therefore may need
to spend more money in order to reach the same level of health as Boise.
One reason why total health expenditures are rising is because of an aging population. True or
false? - Answer TRUE. More people are getting older and therefore sicker, causing an
increase in demand for medical technology and treatments.
