Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Impact of Health Care Disparities on Health Care

Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Impact of Health Care Disparities on Health Care

Hi Maureen, thank you for your post this week. I agree with both your assessment and your recommendations. I believe that mental health disorders have a macroeconomic impact. In 2011, the World Economic Forum projected that, by 2030, mental ill‐health will account for more than half of the global economic burden attributable to non‐communicable diseases, at US$6 trillion. Furthermore, its harmful consequences, such as productivity losses and heavier use of resources for treatment – are increasingly recognized with the help of disease burden and COI studies. Mental health disorders’ personal and economic consequences could affect someone’s entire life, spill over into their family, and have broader community impacts. Mental health disorders are still very much an individual experience. However, they still can affect society and communities and need society-wide attention and government action.

Reference

Knapp, M., & Wong, G. (2020). Economics and mental health: the current scenario. World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 19(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20692

Perhaps one contributing factor is the terms that determine if a family or individual meets the qualification of falling below the poverty line and qualifying for such assistance from the government. Researchers have argued that the official number of those who qualify as in poverty is too low. For example, one study found that at least 3.2 million more people should be classified as “in poverty” based on inflation changes alone; another analysis found that almost 51 million households struggle to pay for necessities such as food, housing, and health care. (The Poverty Line Matters, but It Isn’t Capturing Everyone It Should, 2020). The current threshold and other government poverty statistics do not reflect America’s economic reality. The calculation doesn’t consider housing, transportation, child care, or medical costs. It also doesn’t consider geographical differences, even though living costs vary significantly across the country (The Poverty Line Matters, but It Isn’t Capturing Everyone It Should, 2020).

Another contributing factor is education. Often, poor education is found in these specific populations that suffer from healthcare disparities. Education is critical in influencing infant mortality, life expectancy, child vaccinations, and enrollment rates. Even in highly developed countries like the United States, it has been observed that adults with lower educational attainment suffer from poor health compared to other populations. Education has also been found to help promote healthy lifestyles, positive choices, and the use of preventative care. (Raghupathi, 2020). There has been a clear pattern of significant health inequalities brought about by education issues, and target educational intervention could help reduce these inequalities and improve health.

References

Raghupathi, V. (2020, April 6). The influence of education on health: an empirical assessment of OECD countries for 1995–2015 – Archives of Public Health. BioMed Central. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://archpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13690-020-00402-5

The Poverty Line Matters, But It Isn’t Capturing Everyone It Should. (2020, March 5). Center for American Progress. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/poverty-line-matters-isnt-capturing-everyone/

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Respond to at least two classmates who identified different areas of disparity than your own. Do you agree or disagree with their assessment of the impact of economic policy on the difference? Does the contrast discussed have microeconomic or macroeconomic implications for health care?