The Economics of Health and Medical Care is an introduction to population-based health economics as well as the traditional, market-oriented approach to health care economics. The book examines economics through the lens of descriptive, explanatory, and evaluative economics.The Sixth Edition is an extensive revision that refines its approach to evaluative economics by focusing on the tools and methods used to inform decision making, with a particular emphasis on determining alternative approaches to addressing a problem, issue, or decision and comparing the relative benefits and costs of those approaches.The Sixth Edition also offers: Expanded material on health insurance, to incorporate more theory regarding insurance markets and also on the substantial implications that insurance has for efficiency in the health care industry. New coverage of health care reform and its impact on different sectors of the economy and on different individuals in the system. New coverage of other changes in health policy such as the implications of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act