Stanford Health Policy is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford School of Medicine
FSI’s researchers assess health and medicine through the lenses of economics, nutrition and politics. They’re studying and influencing public health policies of local and national governments and the roles that corporations and nongovernmental organizations play in providing health care around the world. Scholars look at how governance affects citizens’ health, how children’s health care access affects the aging process and how to improve children’s health in Guatemala and rural China. They want to know what it will take for people to cook more safely and breathe more easily in developing countries.
FSI professors investigate how lifestyles affect health. What good does gardening do for older Americans? What are the benefits of eating organic food or growing genetically modified rice in China? They study cost-effectiveness by examining programs like those aimed at preventing the spread of tuberculosis in Russian prisons. Policies that impact obesity and undernutrition are examined; as are the public health implications of limiting salt in processed foods and the role of smoking among men who work in Chinese factories. FSI health research looks at sweeping domestic policies like the Affordable Care Act and the role of foreign aid in affecting the price of HIV drugs in Africa.
In today's competitive health care markets, market forces are motivating large innovations in cost reduction and customer service improvement. Government programs, on the other hand, are often associated with waste, complexity, rigidity, and coercion. Thus, there are important advantages to be gained by leaving resource allocation to the private market. But market forces in health care if left unchecked can produce undesirable results. Therefore, collective action at some level is often needed to correct these problems. In some cases, there is no alternative to government intervention; in others, with appropriate rules and incentives, collective action in the private sector may produce the desired results.
Market forces will not produce universal coverage, because some people cannot reasonably afford coverage, and others are motivated to take a free ride (by the cost of coverage, the availability of the safety net, and the easy access to coverage if there is guaranteed issue without exclusion of coverage for preexisting conditions or waiting periods), Thus, to produce universal coverage, the market needs to be supported by a system of incentives, subsidies, or possibly compulsion (mandates or taxes).
Rapid Response Project prepared for the Management Decision Research Center, Department of Veterans Affairs