Today’s health care market is growing compared to where it used to be when the economy was at an all time low. Providers, health care facilities, insurance companies, and patients have all had to take a different approach in health care. The demand for health care is stronger because it is being made a prominent issue is politics and society. Society is speaking up and politicians are being forced to address their concerns. Health Care is a debatable issue that will take a lot of dedication and communication to truly help resolve. Leaders of the health care market should address prices, incomes, and insurance rates to justly assess the demand for health care. All of these issues directly relate to consumers and the demand for health care. To get a better understanding of how the health care market is growing, the needs of society must be addressed.

Compare and contrast your personal health care choices with other members of your community and determine your relative contribution to the demand for health care (Please provide specific examples).

A key component in health care is research. Research involves planning, organizing, statistics, and evaluating different options. There are many measures that could affect someone’s personal choice for the demand of health care. Some measures are income, family size, insurance carriers, health conditions, and prices. All of these would be determinants of my decision for health care. Increased prices and coinsurance rates reduce demand for services. Raising income increases the demand for services (Folland, Goodman & Stano, 2010). For me, single coverage is sort of costly. I have personally not had health insurance because of the cost instead of placing my health concerns first. Even though my health is the most important thing I have went against my better judgment. When choosing an insurance plan, I look at the premium cost, which providers are in the network, co-pays, and how much my insurance company will allow for the visit. Also, I have noticed that age and pre-existing conditions come in to play with health care insurance. I asked a neighbor what they thought about the health care market today and they felt totally opposite. Their take was that no matter how much health care is, they would pay the amount for it. This is a family of four. They pay approximately $480.00 for family coverage. The father explained to me that everyone should take his or her health seriously. He did think that the cost were high, but compared to not having any insurance it was worth it. I understand his decision because he has a family and it is not just he. He did wonder if there could be better prices associated with family coverage and children. We thought of the idea of children under a certain age, should be discounted at some rate. So, for families that have two or more children, they could receive like a bundle package, at least for the children. I personally think that this will benefit the consumers and the insurance companies. In today’s market both ends have to be compromising. Nonprofit organizations depend on the government but even they can suffer consequences in the health care market. The benefit to society is the sum of the private benefits and the external benefits to the community. The market then produces less than the amount that would maximize net social benefits (Folland, Goodman & Stano, 2010). For-profit or private practices will probably continue to suffer the most, because they do not receive government funding. There is not a lot of elasticity in their field. The monies that they spend on running their organization are strictly reimbursed from the consumers. This places private entities at uncompromising place. In today’s health care market, prices are a major concern for everyone involved. Consumers have to make the decision to choose coverage or health care over other priorities in their lives. Insurance companies have to compromise with the economy, in order to maintain their stability. Organizations have to either compromise with the economy by reducing costs or by essentially reducing staff. There would not be a health care market, if it was not for consumers, but at the same time, consumers need a great health care market. My relative demand for health care is to find some equilibrium that everyone is comfortable at. My thoughts are that each health care plan should alter to suit each consumer or family, like alternative insurance plans.

Discuss the largest degree of information asymmetry you personally experience and how that asymmetry impacts the health care choices you make.

Asymmetry information encompasses situations where buyers and sellers have different levels of information; agency concerns situations where, for lack of information, buyers or sellers rely on other parities to help make decision (Folland, Goodman & Stano, 2010).