Topic Paper Assignment: You are an economics advisor to a U.S. Senator. The Sena
ID: 1178722 • Letter: T
Question
Topic Paper Assignment: You are an economics advisor to a U.S. Senator. The Senator is interested in sponsoring legislation to address the impact of rapidly rising medical costs, and has commissioned you to write a briefing paper on the subject.
You know medical costs have risen faster than other consumer costs over the past decade, and decide to utilize indifference curve analysis to demonstrate how the cost changes have impacted the Senator's constituents.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Write your Topic Paper as if it were a briefing paper you will deliver to the Senator. In it:
- demonstrate and document the trends in medical costs
- assume the Senator is not an economist and is not familiar with indifference curve analysis
- provide some legislative suggestions to the Senator that utilize your economic knowledge
- use our material
- cite your sources
Utilize Managerial Economics to make your case, and remember that the Senator has not had benefit of the course you are taking.
Explanation / Answer
The high and growing cost of health care is a significant
issue for people, businesses, and government. Spending
on health care, which is a projected to be 17.6% of the U.S.
gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, has consistently
grown faster than the economy overall since the 1960s.
This fact sheet presents some of the key statistics about the
level and growth of health care costs and spending in the
U.S. Links to additional resources are provided at the end
of the document.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), the U.S. is projected to spend over $2.5
trillion on health care in 2009, or $8,160 per U.S. resident
(Exhibit 1).1
Health spending in 2009 is projected to
account for 17.6% of GDP.