Healthcare Goods and Services—An Economic Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the health system from the point of view of economics. We consider health goods and services are true economic goods, because providers and patients, when supplying and demanding them, behave as economic agents. From this perspective, goods and services rendered within the health system were assigned to categories from economic perspective: public, private and common goods; capital and consumer goods; complementary and substitution goods; credence and experience goods; merit and demerit goods; tangible and intangible goods; superior, normal and inferior goods; necessity and luxury goods, etc. Because they are not homogenous, the specific demand for, and the elasticity of it is analyzed, as well as the relationship with access to care. The paper is limited to large categories of goods, but detailed examples are provided whenever possible. The paper attempts to enrich knowledge about health services, from economic perspective, providing a valuable input to policymaking, useful in creating effective targeted health policies rather than comprehensive large interventions. It is also useful for teaching, research, healthcare management, marketing and designing health insurance regulation and policies.