Question

Discuss the phrase: ”There is no correlation between the increasing cost of health

care and the health of the population as measured by the international quality

measures of infant mortality rate and male life expectancy”.

Answer 1

According to the phrase, the health of the population is determined or affected by the other factors such as per capital income, presence of good health care infrastructure and public health initiatives among the others. If people are earning a good income, then they can get a good health service, even if the cost of health care is high. But, poor people cannot avail the services even if it is cheap, if they don't have income or public health and or social security program in place. Hence, it is said that health of the population is not the function of rising cost of health care. Regarding infant mortality rate, the driving factors are the technology, hygiene and level of nutrition given to the infants. These factors are driven by the above mentioned factors as well such as facilities, income and health programs. Male life expectancy is also driven by the quality of life that comes from the income earned by the people as well as social security programs run for them in their older age. So, rising cost of health care has the detrimental effect such as redistribution of income, but it has lesser impact upon the health of the population.