Aaron YelowitzApplied economist · University of Kentucky
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Historical

ECO 410 · Fall 2010

Health Economics

Historical syllabus; policies and dates reflect this term.

Archived syllabus. Policies, dates, assignments, and readings reflect Fall 2010.

Course information

Economics 410-002: Health Economics University of Kentucky Fall Semester 2010 URL: http://gatton.uky.edu/Faculty/yelowitz/410/fall2010.html (historical link unavailable)

Lectures Tuesday/Thursday, 2 pm-3:15 pm, Business and Economics Building 213.

Relevant info on me Professor Aaron Yelowitz Office: 335W Business and Economics Building Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-2 pm, and by appointment. Email: aaron@uky.edu

My background: I am an associate professor in the economics department, and I have been at UK since 2001. Before I joined UK, I was an assistant professor in the economics department at UCLA, from 1994 to 2001. I received my Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1994, and my B.A. from UC Santa Barbara in 1990. My research interests have focused on low-income households – especially concerning the housing and health insurance decisions that these groups are faced with. I’ve also examined living wages and health insurance mandates more recently.

Enrolling in this Class

If you want to enroll in this class, you need to talk to Debbie Wheeler in the economics department; she handles that.

Course Description

This course examines the organization, financing, and management of the U.S. health care system and programs, and emphasizes contemporary health policy concerns. By the end of the semester, students should have the institutional knowledge and analytic tools needed to think about current public policy debates about health and medical care. Specifically,

  • Be familiar with basic facts about the U.S. health care system
  • Be familiar with the major economic issues in health care policy
  • Have experience using economic policy analysis to evaluate public policy issues in health care

Prerequisites

Economics 202 or equivalent.

Textbook / On-line class notes

Charles E. Phelps, Health Economics, 4th edition (Addison Wesley, 2010, ISBN 13: 9780321594570).

There will also be assigned readings from academic papers, most of which are freely available from National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org) or JSTOR (www.jstor.org). Both NBER’s web site and JSTOR’s web site have downloadable papers if accessed from computers in the B&E building, and possibly elsewhere. For those who have difficulty, I will be happy to assist you.

The Internet

The web site will have links to lecture notes and other materials. In addition, I will sometimes send announcements by email.

Preparing for Class

We will generally follow the order of topics on the syllabus. The best way of preparing for the class is to read the textbook chapters ahead of time, as well as any supplemental materials. In terms of the academic studies, you should attempt to read through them ahead of time, but there is no expectation that all parts of the study will be completely understandable to you. We will hit the highlights of those academic studies in class.

Studying for the Exams

The exams for this semester will generally be based on the textbook and class lecture. During the course of the semester, I will point out relevant questions in the back of the chapters, and will also create additional questions for you to work on. I will try to distribute these questions when we start on a new chapter in the textbook.

Grading

  1. The final is on Thursday, December 16, 2010, at 1 pm. It will count for 25% of your grade. It lasts 2 hours.
  2. You will be given one midterm, in class, on Thursday, October 14, 2010. It will count for 25% of your grade. It lasts 75 minutes.
  3. You will be assigned 3 homework assignments. Each will count for 10% of your grade, or 30% total. You are expected to do the homework by yourself, and given their importance in the overall grade, you must take them seriously.
  4. Attendance and participation will count for 20% of your grade – participation will consist of, among other things, attendance, pop quizzes at the beginning of class, and pop quizzes at the end of class. You will not know in advance when the attendance or quizzes will be. For students who are paying attention during class and/or prepared for class, the quizzes will be straightforward.
  5. During the semester, there will also be opportunities to earn extra credit. These opportunities will only be announced during class.

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on midterms, homework, attendance, pop quizzes and the final exam.

Procedure for re-evaluation of disputed exam scores: Requests must be submitted in writing with an explanation of the error the student believes has been made. Written requests and test sheet must be submitted within one week of the date on which the exams are returned. All tests submitted for re-evaluation will be entirely regraded.

University Holidays / Cancelled Classes

According to the university calendar, there will be no class on November 25, 2010 for Thanksgiving.

Course outline and readings

I. Introduction and Background

A. Phelps, Chapters 1 & 2

  • Why Health Economics?
  • Utility and Health

B. Supplemental Readings

  • Reading 1: Empirical Methods for studying health economics

II. Medical Care and Health

A. Phelps, Chapters 3, 4, & 5

  • The Transformation of Medical Care to Health
  • The Demand For Medical Care: Conceptual Framework
  • Empirical Studies of Medical Care Demand and Applications

B. Supplemental Readings

  • Reading 2 (technical): W. Manning, et al., “Health Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment,” AER 77 (June 1987), 251 277.

III. Physician Behavior, Malpractice and Defensive Medicine

A. Phelps, Chapters 6, 7, & 13

  • The Physician and the Physician Firm
  • Physicians in the Marketplace
  • Medical Malpractice

B. Supplemental Readings

  • Reading 3 (technical): Daniel Kessler and Mark McClellan, “Do Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?”, QJE, Vol. 111, No. 2. (May, 1996), pp. 353 390.

IV. Health Insurance, Managed Care & Government Programs

A. Phelps, Chapters 10, 11, & 12

  • The Demand for Health Insurance
  • Health Insurance Supply and Managed Care
  • Government Provision of Health Insurance

B. Supplemental Readings

  • Reading 4 (technical): James Marton, Aaron Yelowitz, and Jeffrey Talbert, “A Tale of Two Cities? Heterogeneous Impact of Medicaid Managed Care in Kentucky.” Working Paper, February 2010.
  • Reading 5 (technical): Aaron S. Yelowitz, “The Medicaid Notch, Labor Supply, and Welfare Participation: Evidence from Eligibility Expansions,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 110, No. 4. (Nov., 1995), pp. 909-939.

V. Health Care Reform

A. Supplemental Readings

  • Reading 6: Jonathan Gruber, “Incremental Universalism for the United States: The States Move First?” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Fall 2008) pp. 51-68.
  • Reading 7: Aaron Yelowitz and Michael F. Cannon, “The Massachusetts Health Plan: Much Pain, Little Gain,” Cato Policy Analysis No. 657, January 20, 2010.