Abstract
Health care spending is carving up an increasing share of the US national gross domestic productapproximately 18%- but the absolute number-46 million- and the proportion of uninsured Americans15%- are also on the rise (McConnell, Microeconomics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 2012). These counterintuitive trends are alarming and cannot be sustained without significant net economic costs. A survey of the cost-benefit analyses of uninsurance reveals that uninsurance has tremendous opportunity costs (ex: foregone economic productivity and higher mortality) and is economically (net) harmful. It also reveals that extending insurance to currently uninsured will be economically (net) beneficial to our nation as a whole because of its effects on the real GDP. Even though this study primarily aims to characterize uninsurance using cost-benefit analysis, it also provides supporting evidence (in the concluding sections) for why insurance should be extended through private (free market-based), rather than government, mediums.
Faculty Sponsors
Charles Harrington
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-4-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
4-4-2014 5:30 PM
A Survey of the Cost-Benefit Analyses of Uninsurance
Alvin Sherman Library
Health care spending is carving up an increasing share of the US national gross domestic productapproximately 18%- but the absolute number-46 million- and the proportion of uninsured Americans15%- are also on the rise (McConnell, Microeconomics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 2012). These counterintuitive trends are alarming and cannot be sustained without significant net economic costs. A survey of the cost-benefit analyses of uninsurance reveals that uninsurance has tremendous opportunity costs (ex: foregone economic productivity and higher mortality) and is economically (net) harmful. It also reveals that extending insurance to currently uninsured will be economically (net) beneficial to our nation as a whole because of its effects on the real GDP. Even though this study primarily aims to characterize uninsurance using cost-benefit analysis, it also provides supporting evidence (in the concluding sections) for why insurance should be extended through private (free market-based), rather than government, mediums.
