Pauly Mark V
Health Care Systems, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2007 May-Jun;26(3):653-62. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.3.653.
This paper discusses the meaning of the term risk from the economic perspective. It argues that some consumer decisions about insurance and the use of medical care are consistent with the economic model, but many are not. When decisions are inconsistent, real-world democratic governments' ability to intervene is limited by politicians' desire to please voters. The choice of incomplete insurance coverage in private markets is often said to present a case for governmental intervention, but the choice of insurance design in the Medicare drug benefit shows that the political process also may fail to select insurance that is optimal from an economic viewpoint.
本文从经济学角度探讨了“风险”一词的含义。文章认为，消费者在保险和医疗保健使用方面的一些决策与经济模型相符，但许多决策并非如此。当决策不一致时，现实世界中民主政府的干预能力受到政治家取悦选民愿望的限制。私人市场中不完全保险覆盖范围的选择常被认为是政府干预的一个理由，但医疗保险药品福利中保险设计的选择表明，政治过程也可能无法选择从经济角度看最优的保险。
