World-leading Health Economist Cam Donaldson Defends Nhs-type Systems On The Same Basis As Their Detractors: Economic Efficiency. However, Protecting Government Funding Of Health Care Is Not Enough: Scarcity Has To Be Managed. Donaldson Goes On To Show How We Can Get More Out Of Our Systems By Addressing Issues Of Value For Money. In Particular, He Demonstrates What Has Been Achieved Through Health Care Reform But Questions How Much More This Can Deliver Relative To Getting Serious About Priority Setting. The Issues Addressed In The Book Have Global Relevance And This Accessible Book Will Therefore Appeal To The Public, Health Professionals And Health Policy Specialists. Credit Crunch Health Care; Contents; List Of Figures, Tables And Boxes; About The Author; Acknowledgements; Foreword; 1. Introduction: The Quid Pro Quo Of Health Care; Scarcity And Value; From Scarcity To Value In Health Care; 2. Market Failure And Health Care; Introduction; Health Care As A 'commodity'; 'market Failure' In Health Care: The Tale Of The Duck-billed Platypus; What Type Of System?; Some Final Thoughts - And A Toast; 3. Charging The Public: Exception Or Anomaly?; Introduction; The Popularity Of User Charges; The Fallacy Of Composition; Can We Exempt People? What Are We Trying To Achieve?medical Savings Accounts: Another Way Of Placing Decision Burden On The 'consumer'; An Exception To The Exception: Lower-income Countries; 4. Reform, Privatisation And Those Damn Doctors; Introduction; Public Finance Or Public Provision?; Evidence On Internal Markets; Does The 'for-profit Versus Not-for-profit' Literature Help?; Lessons From America?; Paying Doctors; Conclusion; 5.the Fiscal Future Of Health Care: An Economist's Rant; Introduction; The 'scarcity Denial' Rant: When In Doubt...; Where Now?; Challenges To Managing Scarcity; Do We Have The Data? Conclusion6.economic Evaluation; Introduction; From Principles To Decisions; Quality Adjusted Life Years; Willingness To Pay; Appraising The Econom