York University Health Economics Sample Past Paper PDF

Student Number: YORK UNIVERSITY ATKINSON ECONOMICS AK/ECON 3510 3.0 SECTION M HEALTH ECONOMICS SAMPLE TEST #1 INSTRUCTOR:...

Student Number: YORK UNIVERSITY ATKINSON ECONOMICS AK/ECON 3510 3.0 SECTION M HEALTH ECONOMICS SAMPLE TEST #1 INSTRUCTOR: DATE: Professor Neil Buckley 40 Minutes NAME: ___________________________ ________________________________ LAST NAME FIRST NAME STUDENT NUMBER: _____________________________________________ SIGNATURE: _____________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS: Basic scientific calculators are allowed, although you should not need one. You have 40 minutes to answer all questions. Questions will be either multiple choice, true/false/why or short/long answer format. For multiple choice answers, no work needs to be shown. The full marks will be granted if the best answer is circled and zero otherwise. For true/false/why and short/long answer questions, grading will emphasize your explanation. Make sure to show all your work, part marks will be granted. It is a good idea to state the meaning of any technical terms you use in your answer. Be concise and clear, the allotted space is adequate to provide a good answer. In all cases your answers should emphasize and discuss the questions from a health economic perspective using concepts discussed in the lectures and slides. You answers should reflect what a thoughtful health economist would say about these issues. 1  Student Number: 1. [2 marks] The supply side of the health care sector, encompassing individuals and organizations that provide health care services or produce health care goods, is referred to as: a) Health care financing b) Health care funding c) Health care efficiency d) Health care delivery 2. [2 marks] Canada’s health care system is predominantly: a) Publicly financed, privately delivered b) Publicly financed, publicly delivered c) Privately financed, privately delivered d) Privately financed, publicly delivered 3. [2 marks] The concept that you must take the value of what must be given up (the next best alternative) as the result of a decision is known as: a) Equity b) Opportunity cost c) Efficiency d) Financing 4. [2 marks] A cost-effective efficient allocation of goods and services must also be: a) A technologically efficient allocation b) An allocative efficient allocation c) An equitable allocation d) None of the other answers are true 5. [2 marks] A tax on cigarettes will reduce smoking demand but society should not impose it because it will impose more burden on lower income individuals than higher income ones. a) This is a positive economic statement b) This is a normative economic statement c) This is neither a positive nor a normative economic statement d) This is both a positive and normative economic statement 2  Student Number: 6. [2 marks] Which of the following statements regarding the Potential Pareto Criterion is True? a) It is used as a possible way to determine efficiency in production b) It is the reason why demand curves are downward sloping c) Using it will result in an equitable allocation d) Using it to determine an allocatively efficient allocation may make some people worse off 7. [2 marks] Assume that when a patient needs health care, they require services from both doctors and nurses. This relationship is best summarized as a) Elastic demand b) Complementary goods/services c) Externalities d) Diminishing marginal returns 8. [2 marks] Economists consider monopolies and taxes to be bad primarily because: a) They create externalities b) They create excess demand c) They result in diminishing marginal returns d) They create deadweight losses 9. [2 marks] Which of the following does NOT account for the reason that a supply curve is upward sloping: a) The law of supply b) Diminishing marginal returns c) A negative externality d) The fact that we read graphs from the left to the right 10. [2 marks] An economic evaluation reports that a new smoking cessation/quitting treatment costs $500 per smoker treated. This is an example of a: a) Cost-equity analysis b) Cost-benefit analysis c) Cost-utility analysis d) Cost-effectiveness analysis 3  Student Number: 11. [2 marks] Which of the following concepts is least applicable (i.e., not applicable) when health economists’ study which of two medicines should the Canadian public health care system support? e) Cost f) Normative economics g) Cost-utility analysis h) Vertical equity 12. [2 marks] Which of the following statements regarding economic evaluation is not correct? i) Cost-benefit analysis calculates the net benefit of an intervention based on converting all of the costs and benefits/consequences to dollar values j) All types of economic evaluation should discount the value of future costs and benefits/consequences so they can be compared in present value terms k) Cost-effectiveness analysis often calculates and ICER ratio which tells us the additional cost incurred per unit of effect achieved l) Cost-utility analysis measures costs in monetary units and measures benefits/consequences in natural health units Health Area Actual Allocation Needs-based Allocation ($ per person) ($ per person) Downtown 782 761 Uptown 430 397 Suburb 429 522 Rural 532 761 12. [6 marks] Assume that the table above is an excerpt from a report comparing the actual allocation of health care funds to estimates of what the funding allocation should be based on need. Using the above table, is the allocation across health areas consistent with horizontal and vertical equity? Why? Downtown and Rural both need the same amount of funds (761) however Downtown actually receives a lot more (782 vs. 532) therefore there is horizontal inequity (horizontal equity not met since equals are not treated equally). Also, Suburb needs more than Uptown (522 vs. 397) however both actually receive approximately the same amount (429 and 430) therefore there is also vertical inequity (vertical equity is not met since unequals are not treated unequally in terms of what they need). 4  Student Number: 14. [6 marks] Suppose a Canadian health policy maker finds an academic journal article that reports the following statistical regression of education on health status based on a very recent random sample of Canadian individuals. According to the regression results below, would public policies that increase individual education levels be expected to lead to increases in individual health levels? Why? Discuss from the point of view of a knowledgeable health economist (based on our course content). [I am looking for at least 3 good points to be made] Dependent Variable: Health Status [=1 for High/Good Health, =0 for Low/Poor Health] Independent Variable Name: Odds Ratio: P-Value: Education (# of years) 0.91 0.008 *Note: R-squared = 0.85 -The odds ratio for Education is below 1.0 so it is negatively correlated with Health, if anything higher education levels are associated with lower health statuses, not the other way around as suggested in the question. -The negative correlation found between Education and Health is significant since p-value is