ECON 227 HEALTH ECONOMICS

DR. ALICE LOUISE KASSENS - SPRING 2011

Office: West 234 * Phone: 375-2428 * Email: kassens@roanoke.edu *

Office hours: MTW 1-3 PM * Blog: kassensroanokeecon.blogspot.com *
Online calendar: www.jifflenow.com/cal/Alice_Kassens

Course specifics
Text: Santerre, R.E. & Special services: If you Subject tutoring: Tutor-
Neun, S.P. (2010). are on record with the ing is not available for
Health Economics. Ma- College’s Special Ser- 200-level courses.
son, OH: South-Western vices as having a special Please come to my of-
Cengage Learning academic or physical fice hours frequently to
need requiring accom- ensure understanding of
modations, please bring the course material. Ad-
Prerequisite: ECON 121 me the proper paper- ditional “practice” prob-
(Principles of Microeco- work as soon as possi- lems and answer keys
nomics) ble. Arrangements for can be given to students
extended time on exams in need of additional aid.
and testing in a semi- It is suggested that the-
Additional Reading: private setting must be se additional problems
Dates shown on follow- made at least one week be attempted and then
ing page and citation on before every exam. reviewed with me during
Inquire. office hours.

Learning Outcomes
Upon completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Display a firm grasp of economic knowledge.

2. Conduct rigorous economic analysis and research.
3. Demonstrate proficiency in a variety of communication skills.
4. Appreciate the relationship between economics and ethics.
5. Appreciate the importance of economic and social justice.
6. Describe current health care issues and compare them to past environments.
7. Critique current and proposed government policy measures in the health care
markets via economic models and concepts.
 Page 2 ECON 227 HEALTH ECONOMICS

Course Calendar (subject to change)*

Week (date) Topic Assignment

Week 1 ( 1/17-21) Introduction Chapter 1

Week 2 (1/24-28) What is health? Chapter 2, Additional

Reading #1

Week 3 (1/31-2/4) Demand for medical care Chapter 5

Quiz #2, Homework #1
Week 4 (2/7-11) Demand for medical insurance Chapter 6
TEST #1

Week 5 (2/14-18) Medical care production and Chapter 7

costs
Quiz #3
“The first lesson
of economics is Week 6 (2/21-25) Structure, conduct, perfor- Chapter 8
mance, and market analysis
scarcity: There is Quiz #4, Homework #2
never enough of Week 7 (2/28-3/4) Health insurance Chapter 11
anything to
Quiz #5, Response paper
satisfy all those
who want it. The Week 8 (3/14-18) Physicians Chapter 12
first lesson of
Quiz #6, Response paper
politics is to
Week 9 (3/21-25) Hospitals Chapter 13
disregard the first
lesson of Quiz #7, Homework #3
economics.” –
Week 10 (3/28-4/1) Government, health, and med- Chapter 9
Thomas Sowell
ical care
Test #2
Week 11 (4/4-8) Government as health insurer Chapter 10
Quiz #8, Homework #4
Week 12 (4/11-15) Health insurance reform Chapter 16
Homework #5

Week 13 (4/18-22) Additional Reading #2

Good Friday Paper Presentations

Week 14 (4/25) Paper Presentations

May 2, 8:30-11:30 AM CUMMULATIVE FINAL EXAM

*It is very difficult to predict how the semester will go. Therefore, this sylla-
bus is subject to change at the professor’s discretion. Alerts will be posted
on INQUIRE. It is your responsibility to check the site regularly.
ECON 227 HEALTH ECONOMICS Page 3

Grade Determination
Attendance: Students are expected to be in class everyday. If you have a valid rea-
son for an absence, please inform me ahead of time. These absences are consid-
ered excused. I must be notified of excused absences prior the beginning of class, Academic Integrity:
else the student will be marked absent. Roll is taken at the beginning of class each This course requires
day, and students receive one point each day he/she is present. More than 3 un- both group and
excused absences will result in a FULL letter grade reduction for the course. individual work. It is
expected that you
follow the instructions
on all assignments
Homework: Problems are similar to test questions and should be used to under-
stand the material covered and assist in studying for tests. Late homework sets will carefully with regards
NOT be accepted. You may work together in groups, use your notes and textbook, to what are
but each student must turn in a copy of their work. All work must be shown to acceptable sources
receive full credit. for completing the
assignments. Doing
your own work and
Quizzes: In non-test weeks, short multiple choice quizzes will be given at the end of properly
class on Fridays The purpose of these quizzes are to incentivize continuous study acknowledging the
of the material covered. These quizzes are closed book, but calculators may be work of others are
used. No make up quizzes are given and arrangements for excused absences must fundamental and
be made a week in advance. Students may keep their graded quizzes to aid in
crucial values in an
study for tests and the final.
academic
environment.
Violations of
Response papers: Students must write a 250 word summary of an issue in HR 3590
academic integrity
and a 250 word critique of that same issue, for a total of 500 words. You must use
will immediately be
the actual bill and cite the page; you may NOT use summaries of the bill. This
should be your thoughts. APA guidelines apply. You will be graded on your accura- referred to the proper
cy and writing. One week later, each student will respond to two classmate's pa- authorities.
pers, each response being 150 words. You will be graded upon your critical analy-
sis. All writing portions must be submitted via Turnit In. More detailed instructions
will follow.

Presentation: Students will be sorted into groups of 4-6 to present an assigned pa-
per relevant in the current health economics literature. I will assign a grade to the
group based upon clarity, cohesion, quality, accuracy and response to a Q and A
session. A peer review process will be used to determine the share of that score
Instrument %
each student receives. More detailed instructions will follow.
Attendance 5

Homework (5) 10
Tests/Final: Tests will be on the Friday of the week listed on the calendar. No late
tests are given. If you have a valid reason for not taking a test on the scheduled Quiz(8) 5
date, you must speak to me at least one week prior the test in order to make other
arrangements. If you are sick on a test day, you must contact me prior the begin- Response paper (2) 20
ning of the test period, and supply a note from a doctor before a make-up test will be
Presentation (1) 15
given. Students not present during a test period who do not meet the requirements
listed above will receive a zero for the test. Tests will be reviewed, but will be Test (2)/Final 45
collected by the professor after this review. All tests are the property of the pro-
fessor. If you would like to examine your test outside of class, feel free to come to
my office during office hours to do so. You may not, under any circumstances, take
your test home with you. The final exam date is also listed on the calendar and s
cumulative.
ECON 227 Health Economics Dr. Alice Louise Kassens Spring 2011

Dr. Alice Louise Kassens is an Associate Professor of Economics at Roanoke

College. She received her BA in Economics from the College of William and
Mary and her PhD in Economics from North Carolina State University.
Dr. Kassens’ areas of research include health and labor economics. Currently
she has several research projects underway including:
What Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Thinner? An analysis of overweight and
obese aging adult Americans response to adverse obesity related health com-
plications including heart attack and Type II diabetes. Results indicate that the
obese only respond to a new diagnosis of diabetes and reduce their BMI by 1.2
units. (Paper under review at a national journal and has been presented at sev-
eral national and international conferences)
Effects of Clinical Depression on Labor Market Outcomes. A joint paper with
Dr. William M. Rodgers III (former Chief Economist at the US Department of
Labor and current Professor of Economics at Rutgers University.) Clinical de-
pression reduces employment, particularly for women and minorities. Depres-
sion lengthens the job search for women (longer duration of unemployment),
but minorities are more likely to drop out of the labor force. (Paper presented at
several national conferences and Dr. Kassens worked with Dr. Rodgers as a
Summer Scholar in Residence at Rutgers in July 2010.)

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