What+is+Health?

=What is Health=

Several dictionaries define health as being free of any physical disease or pain, being of sound mind, or being spiritually sound. The Merriam Webster dictionary also adds that health is when an organism performs all of its vital functions normally or properly.

A person’s health differs from person to person and is dependent on several factors. These include the quantity of medical care a person consumes, the current state of medical technology available, the person’s current mental and physical condition, lifestyle variables, social and economic well being, and the environmental conditions that surround the person. = = = = = = =The Health Production Curve=

Everyone starts out with a certain amount of health, but the starting level is different between each individual. This amount can be enhanced by purchasing health care. Each additional unit of Health Care purchased is subject to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Productivity. This can be seen by graphing the total health of a person at every quantity of health care purchased.

Health Curve

=Qualatative vs. Quantatative=

Measuring health is often hard and is based on two important factors; Quantity of Life (which is the expected number of life years remaining - which is Quantatitive) and a person’s perceived [|Quality of Life] (which is a their ability to enjoy normal life activities - which is Qualatative). An example of the difference between the two could be shown when a dealing with a person in a persistent vegetative state. With the increase in medical technology that person could have many years remaining in their life, but based on their beliefs or the beliefs of the people who care for them their quality of life could be low.

Also there is a way to combine both a person's quality of life and quantity of life to get a scientific measurement, which is the QALY. Since health is a combination of both length of life and quality of life, the QALY was developed as an attempt to combine the value of these attributes into a single index number.

From an economic standpoint health can be described as [|durable good]. A person is given a certain level of health at the beginning of a period of time from which it can increase when a person decides to purchase health care services or decrease when a person becomes sick or suffers from some kind of illness.

=Ways of Measuring Health=

There are many different ways out there that can provide a measurement of health, and the majority of them rely on surveys. For example //__RAND Health__// has a [|core survey] that serves as a measurement of quality of life; to see what level of health a person has, //__RAND Health__// uses their own [|scoring system].

There is also a shorter [|36 question]survey (also known as the SF-36) and [|scoring system] that is widely used as a measurement of health.

=Questions=

A. Quantity of medical care consumed B. Environmental Conditions C. Social and Economic Well-Being D. Medical Technology Available E. All of the Above
 * Question - A person’s Health can be dependent on which factor(s).**

Answer**…E - All of the Above**


 * Question – True or False. A person’s quality of life can be defined as the estimated number of life years remaining.**

Answer**…False. Quality of Life can be defined as a person’s ability to enjoy normal life activities, and is often hard to measure.**


 * Question – True or False. Medical survey’s administered by a physician can provide an accurate way to measure a person’s health.**

Answer**…True**. That is the purpose of the surveys

A. being free of physical pain B. being of sound mind C. being socially and spiritually stable D. All of the Above
 * Question - Health can be defined as:**

Answer**…d - All of the Above**. There are many ways to define health.

A. Quality of Life B. QALY C. Quantatative Method D. Regression Analysis
 * Question - Which is scientific method to combine both a person's quality of life and quantity of life to get a meaningful measurement:**

Answer**…B**. QALY stands for quality adjusted life years. This obviously takes into account length and quality of life.


 * Question - True or False everybody starts with an equal amount of health:**

Answer... **False**. Everyones is given a certain amount of health to start with, but it is not the same for everyone.

A. Health B. Usefulness C. Amount of Medical Supplies D. None of the Above
 * Question - Utility is proportional to**

Answer... **A -** the more health you have the more utility you have.


 * Question - True or False a persons health can be exactly measured.**

Answer... **False**. There is no exact measurement of health because the level of health cannot be observed directly.

A. a greater amount B. an equal amount C. a smaller amount D. does not affect your health
 * Question - Each additional unit of health care affects your health by**

Answer... **C**. This reflects the Law of Marginal Productivity.

= = = =

=Sources=

Santerre, R., & Neun, S. (2007). //Health economics//.Mason: Thomson South-Western. "The Costs of Health Care." __OHE Schools__. Office of Health Economics. 18 Feb 2007 <[|http://www.oheschools.org/ohe.pdf>.] "Health." __Merriam-Webster__ <[|http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary>.] http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11815 http://www.rand.org/health/surveys_tools/mos/