Assignment 04 (E-Portfolio)
58049959
Biography
My name is Ayanda Phakamile Ndlovu I am the lady on the left side on the picture, I am a single mom of
two beautiful kids a boy aged 6years and an 8months old baby girl. I am currently a call centre agent and
an aspiring economist. My plan is to enrol for Bcom: hons in economics with the university. I would love
to see myself a business analyst for one of the major banks in the next coming 2years. I am an introvert
and I love spending my free time with my kids and reading novels and watching animal planet channel. I
love dogs and currently have 2 dogs Slash (3years) and Luna (2months).
1
, Health care should be a public good
Health care service is one of the human rights that every South African has whether a person is
employed, unemployed, young or old, rich or poor. Health care is a primary need for every human being,
the government has a responsibility to ensure that every citizen and any person in South Africa has a
right to access quality health care service.
A public good refers to a service that is made available to all members of the society, mostly these are
the services that are administered by the government of the country. The public goods or services are
usually financed through taxes. For example, national defence, health services, law enforcement and
streetlights. A public good or service is said to be indivisible and utility does not decrease or minimise
the quality or quantity of the service.
A public good should be non-rival and non-excludable, when a public good is produced it becomes
available to all consumers in the same equal quantity. For example if I usually knock off late at work and
by the time I walk home it is dark and unsafe, when I walk on the road that has streetlights so that I can
get home safe, my neighbour can still use the same road that has streetlights, my usage did not lessen
my neighbours usage. This proves that marginal cost for another person’s consumption of the streetlight
is zero.
In this case healthcare should not be a private good as profit maximising business would not be able to
cover the cost of providing health care services if the price to be paid is R0.This means that if healthcare
can be a private good a few people will be able to afford the services as businesses would want to
benefit in making profits. Then human rights to quality health care and to easily accessible health care
would be taken away. Another reason why health care should be a public good is that health cannot be
specifically sure about the price to charge consumers as health care has a lot of different departments.
Characteristics of private and public goods
Private goods Public goods
Excludable Non excludable
Rival Non rival
Price equals marginal cost Sum of individual prices equals marginal cost
With reference to covid19 and HIV/AIDS the number of positive cases and death toll has proven that
healthcare services should be a public good, how would poor and middle class people afford the
vaccinations and ARV’S and how would we get the free education regarding protecting our selves from
being infected and how to deal with the virus if one is infected. The more access we have to health care
the more life expectancy grows.
2
58049959
Biography
My name is Ayanda Phakamile Ndlovu I am the lady on the left side on the picture, I am a single mom of
two beautiful kids a boy aged 6years and an 8months old baby girl. I am currently a call centre agent and
an aspiring economist. My plan is to enrol for Bcom: hons in economics with the university. I would love
to see myself a business analyst for one of the major banks in the next coming 2years. I am an introvert
and I love spending my free time with my kids and reading novels and watching animal planet channel. I
love dogs and currently have 2 dogs Slash (3years) and Luna (2months).
1
, Health care should be a public good
Health care service is one of the human rights that every South African has whether a person is
employed, unemployed, young or old, rich or poor. Health care is a primary need for every human being,
the government has a responsibility to ensure that every citizen and any person in South Africa has a
right to access quality health care service.
A public good refers to a service that is made available to all members of the society, mostly these are
the services that are administered by the government of the country. The public goods or services are
usually financed through taxes. For example, national defence, health services, law enforcement and
streetlights. A public good or service is said to be indivisible and utility does not decrease or minimise
the quality or quantity of the service.
A public good should be non-rival and non-excludable, when a public good is produced it becomes
available to all consumers in the same equal quantity. For example if I usually knock off late at work and
by the time I walk home it is dark and unsafe, when I walk on the road that has streetlights so that I can
get home safe, my neighbour can still use the same road that has streetlights, my usage did not lessen
my neighbours usage. This proves that marginal cost for another person’s consumption of the streetlight
is zero.
In this case healthcare should not be a private good as profit maximising business would not be able to
cover the cost of providing health care services if the price to be paid is R0.This means that if healthcare
can be a private good a few people will be able to afford the services as businesses would want to
benefit in making profits. Then human rights to quality health care and to easily accessible health care
would be taken away. Another reason why health care should be a public good is that health cannot be
specifically sure about the price to charge consumers as health care has a lot of different departments.
Characteristics of private and public goods
Private goods Public goods
Excludable Non excludable
Rival Non rival
Price equals marginal cost Sum of individual prices equals marginal cost
With reference to covid19 and HIV/AIDS the number of positive cases and death toll has proven that
healthcare services should be a public good, how would poor and middle class people afford the
vaccinations and ARV’S and how would we get the free education regarding protecting our selves from
being infected and how to deal with the virus if one is infected. The more access we have to health care
the more life expectancy grows.
2
