Economic Paper
saau7b28
EconomicBrief.docx
Health Care and Social Assistance Industry
Tamika Brown
ECO100
Mark Stallo
August 4, 2019
Economic Brief
Health Care and Social Assistance Industry
Product and services
The Healthcare and Social Assistance business entails of Ambulatory care amenities, hospitals, nursing institutions and residential services and social assistance. Through these sectors, the industry offers health care to many individuals across all ages in the United States. In the hospitals, the industry provides examination, diagnosis, treatments and many other services that are involved in a hospital care setting (Quinn, et al., 2016) In the nursing homes, the industry provides care to the aged, people living with disabilities and the sick individuals or who needs special care from professional nurses. In social assistance the industry offers are a last-recourse kind of financial help for persons and families that covers some of the rudimentary requirements of life.
Market Structure and Characteristics
The health care industry has a monopolistic market structure whereby there are no other big industries offering the same services as them. The mergers from hospital and other social assistance facilities all over the country has ensured that only few individuals are making decision about the prices of services they provide hence increasing the cost of healthcare (Quinn, et al., 2016). This has been characterized by elimination of jobs, reduced admittance to health care for many individuals and lowered quality of services for the public. Physicians and doctors who have their own practices offering healthcare and social assistance are now being put out of business by the healthcare and social assistance industry and turned into employees.
Trends in healthcare and social assistance industry
Numerous trends in the healthcare industry from the past 2 years carry on, although in a changed way since there is the effect of unknown transformation in the public market sector, alongside the income tax reform regulation (Vogenberg, Randy, and Santilli, 2018). Information technology also remains significant, however its consumer base and effectiveness to provide information are ever-changing, along with prospective disruptive submissions that will change market trends in the sector. Furthermore, technology novelties will need to exhibit a positive profit on new venture (Vogenberg, Randy, and Santilli, 2018). A clear customer attention has developed, along with determinations to change the healthcare practice to more certainly use a typically unchanged provision system.
How Government Intervention May Impact the Industry
The focus of the market conformist is that as individuals can purchase all the health care services and products that they need, the imperceptible hand of free market will yield the best conceivable outcomes. In situation where some individuals do not have sufficient money, the conformist would reason that the government necessitates to only increase taxes for the rich and allocate the money to the poor (Mor). Through this, everybody will be able to participate to the market and the market structure, prices and output will be stable. Therefore, the intervention of the government will upset the natural order hence making every stakeholder feel some pressure due to changes in market structure, output and prices.
Works cited
Quinn, Margaret M., et al. "Occupational health of home care aides: results of the safe home care survey." Occup Environ Med 73.4 (2016): 237-245.
Mor, Nachiket. "What role should governments play in healthcare?" World Economic Forum (2015). <weforum.org/agenda/2015/12/what-role-should-governments-play-in-healthcare/>.
Vogenberg, F. Randy, and John Santilli. "Healthcare trends for 2018." American Health & Drug Benefits 11.1 (2018): 48.
