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. 2020 May;20(2):e165-e172.
doi: 10.18295/squmj.2020.20.02.006. Epub 2020 Jun 28.

Why the Economic Aspects of Healthcare are not Unique

Stephen Chambers  1
Affiliations

Why the Economic Aspects of Healthcare are not Unique

Stephen Chambers. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2020 May.

Abstract

Frequent claims suggest that healthcare and its production are not only different from other goods, but that they differ to such an extent that healthcare should be viewed as unique. Various features of healthcare, such as the lack of a perfect market and the existence of information asymmetry, are cited as evidence of this claim. However, such a view results from unduly emphasising the characteristics of healthcare as being atypical. This article redresses this imbalance by taking an alternative approach and examines the ways in which the economic aspects of healthcare are similar to those of other goods. It was found that the differential aspects are less distinctive than claimed and the economic aspects of healthcare are not unique.

Keywords: Competitive Behavior; Economic Competition; Health Services Research; Healthcare Sector; Insurance Selection Bias; Medical Economics; Patient Participation; State Medicine.

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