Answer to Question #294917 in Microeconomics for Trish

Question

In 2010, President Barack Obama and Congress enacted a healthcare reform bill in the United States. Two goals of the bill were to provide more Americans with health insurance (via subsidies for lower-income households financed by taxes on higher-income households) and to reduce the cost of healthcare (via various reforms in how healthcare is provided). a. How do these goals relate to equality and efficiency? b. How might healthcare reform increase productivity in the United States? c. How might healthcare reform decrease productivity in the United States?

Answer 1

(a) The goals of the healthcare reforms bill relate to equality in the sense that when the government provides subsidies to its citizens through health insurance, all citizens will be able to access medication efficiency in the sense that the burden will be bed footed by the government.

(b) The healthcare reforms have the ability to increase productivity in the United States because, by citizens accessing medication at relatively low prices catered by the government, people will be leading a healthy life that will enhance their concentration on productive matters.

On the other hand, healthcare reforms might decrease productivity in the country by the government diverting the resources meant for the development to the healthcare reforms