Question :
41) Some economists have proposed making the tax treatment of : 1245139
41) Some economists have proposed making the tax treatment of employer-provided health insurance the same as the tax treatment of individually purchased health insurance and out-of-pocket health care spending. Such changes would make it more likely that
A) consumers would pay prices closer to the actual costs for routine medical care.
B) employers would provide more generous medical coverage to their employees.
C) insurance deductibles would decrease.
D) the quantity of medical services demanded would increase.
42) Economists John Cogan, Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel Kessler have estimated that repealing the tax preference for employer-provided health insurance would
A) significantly reduce the effectiveness of the health care received by those enrolled in these programs.
B) increase overall spending on health care as consumers would have to pay a higher price for medical services.
C) drive up prices for health care coverage since insurance reimbursements to doctors would be reduced.
D) reduce spending by people enrolled in these programs by 33 percent.
43) Which of the following reforms could potentially reduce spending on health care without reducing the effectiveness of health care received?
A) nationalize health care so that all health services are government funded and operated
B) give every citizen a fixed amount of money that can only be spent on health care services
C) reimburse consumers for preventive health care expenditures so as to avoid costly emergency medical treatments in the future
D) standardize the tax treatment of employer-based health insurance benefits and private spending on health care
Article Summary
Administrative overhead costs resulting from insurance companies handling reimbursement claims is in large part the reason that health care in the United States is much more expensive than in other countries. An analysis on the administration costs of health care in the United States found that roughly 30 percent of the costs of health care are administrative and that more than 25 percent of health-sector employees work in administration. Health insurance companies are often paid a fixed percentage of the claims they administer, which gives them little to no impetus to increase efficiency and keep costs down.
Source: Jeffrey Pfeffer, “The Reason Health Care Is So Expensive: Insurance Companies,” Bloomberg Businessweek, April 10, 2013.
44) Refer to the Article Summary. Even if insurance companies were more efficient and brought administrative costs down, consumers would still pay less than the full cost of medical treatment. This would result in the market equilibrium price of medical services being ________ than the efficient equilibrium price, and the market equilibrium quantity of medical services being ________ than the efficient equilibrium quantity.
A) greater; greater
B) greater; less
C) less; greater
D) less; less
45) Basic supply and demand analysis indicates that having firms rather than the government provide health insurance to workers
A) changes both the composition of the compensation that firms pay and its level.
B) changes the composition of the compensation that firms pay, but does not change its level.
C) does not change the composition of the compensation that firms pay, but does change its level.
D) changes neither the composition of the compensation that firms pay nor its level.
46) In 2012, employees covered by company-provided health insurance paid ________ percent of the cost of their own health insurance.
A) 3
B) 18
C) 37
D) 65
47) In 2013, health care’s share of gross domestic product in the United States was about
A) 6.5 percent.
B) 17.3 percent.
C) 45 percent.
D) 62.5 percent.
48) In the United States, out-of-pocket spending on health care per person
A) has been rising since 1965.
B) has been falling since 1965.
C) has remained fairly steady since 1965.
D) fell from 1965 through 1995, then began to rise from 1995 to the present.
49) Compared to the United States, health care spending per person in other high-income countries has been
A) growing at a slower rate.
B) growing at a faster rate.
C) growing at approximately the same rate.
D) declining at approximately the same rate.
50) By the year 2013, health care spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and other U.S. government programs as a percentage of GDP had reached a level of
A) 2.2 percent.
B) 6 percent.
C) 17.5 percent.
D) 21.5 percent.
