economics of healthcare in the uk

Economics & The Welfare State Essay Healthcare Good health is an important factor to an individual’s welfare. It is an essential prerequisite for the enjoyment of life. For this reason the importance of healthcare to governments is great and vast amounts of resources are allocated to healthcare, for example in the UK healthcare equates for 6% of GNP. Some argue that Healthcare is a social issue rather than economic but the allocation of scarce resources and …

…care the patient is not educated enough about medicine to choose between two treatments and must therefore go with what the doctor recommends. This imbalance of knowledge gives the healthcare industry suppliers monopoly power. A healthcare supplier could lower the standard of service and not fear loss of customers. A doctor may also recommend a treatment that is costly and therefore will bring in higher profit for himself without the average person knowing any better.