MHA 710 2025/2026 EXAM 100 QUESTIONS WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS
What does efficiency refer to? - ANSWER - >No way to rearrange
production of goods in a way that makes one person more better
off without making somebody else worse off. How well an
economy uses scare resources to meet the needs/wants of their
customers
How do positive economic statements differ from normative
economic statements? - ANSWER - >Positive economics is
objective while normative economics is subjective. Facts/ What
is vs What should be
How can economics be applied to the health sector? CORRECT
ANSWER Describe, Explain, Evaluate, Plan
As we progress through the chapters, think about the special
characteristics that apply to the health sector that might limit
the applicability of traditional economic models. - ANSWER -
,>Social determinants of health, few insurance companies that
providers rely on, not a perfectly competitive market
How are healthcare products both outputs and inputs? Can you
give an example? - ANSWER - >Products (goods and services are
considered products) are commonly both inputs and outputs.
For example, a surgical tool is an input into a surgery and an
output of a surgical tool company. Similarly, the surgery itself
can be considered an output of the surgical team or an input
into the health of the patient.
What is a life year? And what is it used for in the context of this
chapter? - ANSWER - >One additional year of life. It can equal
one added year of life for an individual or an average of 1/nth
of a year of life for n people. An example is spending $1 million
by reducing childhood obesity and saving thousands of lives or
using if for colonoscopies in 81 year old african american men
and saving few lives.
What are examples of interventions that have the most impact
on life years and those that have less impact? - ANSWER -
>Interventions with the most include antismoking, reducing
childhood obesity, and multidisciplinary measurement of heart
failure. Interventions with the least include colonoscopies for
african american men who are 81 or 76 and multidisciplinary
heart failure measurement with exercise.
, How does healthcare spending per person in the US compare to
other countries? - ANSWER - >US spends far more per person
on healthcare than any other large countries.
How does US life expectancy at birth compare to other
countries? - ANSWER - >27 out of 34 of the OECD countries
(bad!)
Has the US achieved the same increases in life expectancy
relative to their changes in spending as in other countries? -
ANSWER - >From one perspective, this increase in life
expectancy reflects impres-sive performance. From another, it
does not compare well to the performance of other
industrialized countries. For example, French life expectancy at
birth rose from 79.2 years in 2000 to 82.4 years in 2015, and
costs increased less than half as much in France as in the United
States
Why might we want to measure healthcare spending as a share
of GDP instead of just healthcare spending per person? -
ANSWER - >What appears to be higher spending, however,
might just be the effects of inflation. To avoid inaccuracies
resulting from changes in the value of money, economists use
two strategies. The simplest and most reliable strategy to
report spend-ing uses shares of national income, or gross
SOLUTIONS
What does efficiency refer to? - ANSWER - >No way to rearrange
production of goods in a way that makes one person more better
off without making somebody else worse off. How well an
economy uses scare resources to meet the needs/wants of their
customers
How do positive economic statements differ from normative
economic statements? - ANSWER - >Positive economics is
objective while normative economics is subjective. Facts/ What
is vs What should be
How can economics be applied to the health sector? CORRECT
ANSWER Describe, Explain, Evaluate, Plan
As we progress through the chapters, think about the special
characteristics that apply to the health sector that might limit
the applicability of traditional economic models. - ANSWER -
,>Social determinants of health, few insurance companies that
providers rely on, not a perfectly competitive market
How are healthcare products both outputs and inputs? Can you
give an example? - ANSWER - >Products (goods and services are
considered products) are commonly both inputs and outputs.
For example, a surgical tool is an input into a surgery and an
output of a surgical tool company. Similarly, the surgery itself
can be considered an output of the surgical team or an input
into the health of the patient.
What is a life year? And what is it used for in the context of this
chapter? - ANSWER - >One additional year of life. It can equal
one added year of life for an individual or an average of 1/nth
of a year of life for n people. An example is spending $1 million
by reducing childhood obesity and saving thousands of lives or
using if for colonoscopies in 81 year old african american men
and saving few lives.
What are examples of interventions that have the most impact
on life years and those that have less impact? - ANSWER -
>Interventions with the most include antismoking, reducing
childhood obesity, and multidisciplinary measurement of heart
failure. Interventions with the least include colonoscopies for
african american men who are 81 or 76 and multidisciplinary
heart failure measurement with exercise.
, How does healthcare spending per person in the US compare to
other countries? - ANSWER - >US spends far more per person
on healthcare than any other large countries.
How does US life expectancy at birth compare to other
countries? - ANSWER - >27 out of 34 of the OECD countries
(bad!)
Has the US achieved the same increases in life expectancy
relative to their changes in spending as in other countries? -
ANSWER - >From one perspective, this increase in life
expectancy reflects impres-sive performance. From another, it
does not compare well to the performance of other
industrialized countries. For example, French life expectancy at
birth rose from 79.2 years in 2000 to 82.4 years in 2015, and
costs increased less than half as much in France as in the United
States
Why might we want to measure healthcare spending as a share
of GDP instead of just healthcare spending per person? -
ANSWER - >What appears to be higher spending, however,
might just be the effects of inflation. To avoid inaccuracies
resulting from changes in the value of money, economists use
two strategies. The simplest and most reliable strategy to
report spend-ing uses shares of national income, or gross
