Health Care Market

Health Care Market

ECO/HC561

University Of Phoenix

Health Care Market

In the health care market, blood donors keep patients alive. Even when blood donors are paid to give their blood, this vital item is scarce. In the paper below we will discuss the stakeholders, the influences in scarcity, choices stakeholders must make, economic forces, pricing, and supply & demand in the health care market.

Stakeholders in this Market

The various stakeholders in this market are surgeons, general practitioners, anesthetists, blood donors, patients, the health care facility, and the organization that organizes blood donation drives.

Scarcity Influences this Market

Scarcity influences this market when paid blood donors give blood. There are several issues relating to paid blood donors. These donors might infect the patient/user of blood. Such donors lie about their HIV status or when they have donated blood earlier. From the point of view of scarcity, every one 10 people admitted in hospital needs blood, every two seconds someone in the US needs blood and 38.000 blood donations are required every day. But these are not spread evenly and there are periods when there is acute scarcity of blood. This leads to a higher need and paid donors are accessed.

Choice Stakeholders Must Make

The stakeholders namely the anesthetists, surgeons, the health care facilities, and the patients must decide if they would like to buy blood. At risk is the life of the patient. If blood is not provided in a timely manner, the patient may lose her life, on the other hand if the purchased blood is infected the patient might contract a disease and die. The stakeholders have to decide if they want to go in for paid donors of blood. The stakeholders may not trust information about blood; still they are forced to go in for such donation.

Economic Forces

One economic force that affects the market for blood is the price of narcotics in the market. If large numbers of blood sellers...