The book provides a systematic introduction to the theory of health and the theory of health policy design that is grounded on a good understanding of human nature. Given the aversion to extreme risks that is quite universal, it is shown that reducing extreme risks will improve welfare, and so it is important for the government to protect citizens against such extreme risks as arising from health risks. It then shows how health policy should incorporate the incentives of patients and caregivers to render the preservation of health efficient. Using numerical examples and graphical analysis, and drawing on the experience in the US, the UK, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, etc., this book shows the importance of defining the appropriate role of publicly provided care. The author argues that publicly provided care should cover "basic care" and should form the backbone of healthcare. This care should be universally accessible at an appropriate price, which should discourage demand side moral hazard and at the same time should offer no incentive for suppliers to over-supply or under-supply services.
Eligible healthcare expenses should be capped, as they are in Denmark, Norway, and Taiwan, and proposed by President Obama. Private healthcare and health insurance have a place too, to provide supplementary care and greater choice. In the discourse, the peculiarities of the healthcare market will be discussed, so that the student will gain a good mastery of such concepts as moral hazard, information asymmetry, principal agent problem, adverse selection, capitation, and insurance.
Author Biography:
Lok-sang Ho, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, Lingnan University, is the author of Principles of Public Policy Practice and Health Care Financing and Delivery: A Model for Reform, and has published over 90 academic papers in journals and book chapters. His research covers diverse fields, including education(he was the lead editor for a book published by HKU Press on Education Reform and the Quest for Excellence: the HK Story), and politics(his latest 2010 book from Edward Elgar, jointly edited with Brian Bridges, carries the title Public Governance in Asia and the Limits of Electoral Democracy). Prof. Ho has been active in community and professional service. He served as President of the HK Economic Association for eight years through 2007. He has been a member of the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service since 2006 and a Council member of the HK People's Council for Sustainable Development since 2004. He had also served as an Advisor for the Hong Kong Institute of Monetary Research, a member of HK Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, and part time member of the Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Before his appointment at Lingnan University in 1995 he was Senior Lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which he joined in 1983 following a career in the Ontario Government and the Ontario Economic Council as Economist and Research Officer. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong. He writes a weekly column for China Daily(HK Edition), and occasionally for Oriental Daily, HK Economic Times, and the South China Morning Post, among others, and contributes to Seeking Alpha on international economic affairs as an author.
