Introductory health economics

This unit provides an introduction to health economics. For many of you, this will be the first time you may have studied economics so we have developed the course with this in mind. We will cover topics including -

1. Why is the discipline of economics relevant to healthcare? Key economic concepts such as opportunity costs, marginal analysis efficiency, and the concept of benefit.
2. Basic microeconomic tools for health economics including, demand, supply, markets, market failure, and the role of governments.
3. The Australian healthcare system from an economic perspective including structure and expenditure.
4. The role of health insurance and different funding mechanisms in health care.
5. Important public healthcare policy topics from an economics perspective including the reform of Medicare and efficiency in sub-sectors of the healthcare system (such as primary care and hospitals).