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Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, COVID-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate

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  • Mouré, Christopher

Abstract

The debate around public versus private health care often turns on cost – that is, on how to reduce costs, and particularly government expenditures, when it comes to health care. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical relationship between health costs and health outcomes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It proposes an alternative political economic framework – capital-as-power – for understanding how the provision of health care affects the relationship between health care costs and health outcomes, arguing that private health care realizes profits through the strategic limitation of health services. It presents empirical evidence suggesting that in countries which rely more heavily on private health care, higher overall health care expenditures predict more severe COVID-19 outbreaks, contradicting the argument that private health care services are more cost-efficient or will lead to better health outcomes at a lower cost.

Suggested Citation

  • Mouré, Christopher, 2021. "Costly Efficiencies: Health Care Spending, COVID-19, and the Public/Private Health Care Debate," Working Papers on Capital as Power 2021/05, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:capwps:202105
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2009. "Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157973, December.
    2. Sima Berendes & Peter Heywood & Sandy Oliver & Paul Garner, 2011. "Quality of Private and Public Ambulatory Health Care in Low and Middle Income Countries: Systematic Review of Comparative Studies," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-10, April.
    3. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Sogaard, Jes & Andersson, Fredrik & Jonsson, Bengt, 1992. "An econometric analysis of health care expenditure: A cross-section study of the OECD countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 63-84, May.
    4. Thorstein Veblen, 1908. "On the Nature of Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 22(4), pages 517-542.
    5. Thorstein Veblen, 1908. "On the Nature of Capital: Investment, Intangible Assets, and the Pecuniary Magnate," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 23(1), pages 104-136.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital as power; cost/benefit; COVID-19; health care; private/public; sabotage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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