This week, you have been examining how a supply curve and a demand curve intersect to determine market price equilibrium. As you explore possibilities for adjusting market price, one key consideration is the extent to which the market is characterized by competition or monopoly. Although “it is much easier to understand the extremes of perfect competition or pure monopoly than the in-between compromises which make up the real world” (Appendix, p. 209), the health care market is rather complex and consists of multiple submarkets with varying degrees of competition. In addition, various aspects of the health care industry are important for the determination of market price, as well as adjustments that can be made by shifting the supply and/or demand curves. As you explored in previous weeks, the availability of substitutes, flexibility of input choices for production, production efficiency, and other factors can be quite significant in this regard. To prepare for this Discussion: · Identify an example of a health care good or service to explore for this Discussion. The following list of submarkets may guide your consideration, but you may select an example from a different arena. · · o Physician services o o Nursing services o o Medical technician services o o Physical facilities (e.g., hospitals, specialized, imaging, long-term care) o o Medical technology o o Pharmaceuticals · Review the Learning Resources and do further research as needed to assess the structure and other characteristics of the market as it relates to your example. For instance: · · o Review Table 8.1 on page 154 of theEssentials of Health Policy and Lawtext. How would you evaluate this market in terms of competition and monopoly? o o To what extent do the providers of the good or service influence consumers’ decisions? o o What substitutes are available, or what is the possibility of developing substitutes? o o Do consumers have access to information about alternatives, and are they able to make cost-effective choices about the good or service? o o What can you learn about flexibility for selecting which productive inputs to use? What other factors relate to production costs? · With this information in mind, analyze how you could shift the supply curve or the demand curve to affect the market price for the particular good or service you have selected. Based on your research, which factors could have the most significant influence on how the supply curve or demand curve could be shifted? · · Is it possible and/or advisable to generalize about the health care marketplace as a whole based on this example? Why or why not? Postby Day 4a cohesive response that addresses the following: · Describe an example of a particular health care good or service at the beginning of your posting. · · Analyze how you could shift the supply curve or the demand curve to affect the market price for your selected example. · · Evaluate the impact of two or three factors that could influence the extent to which the supply curve or demand curve could be shifted. Reada selection of your colleagues’postings.
