98 Fin

98 Fin Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name & Number Professor Due Date Question 1 The policy that relied on competition to improve the value and access to medical care while reducing medical costs has not been effective for various reasons. While competition was expected to promote persistent improvements in the quality and cost of healthcare, it has been unfavorable to delivering excellent health outcomes at affordable costs. Competition has encouraged the introduction of more health practices and duplication of resources, leading to increased demand pushed by suppliers. Competition has led to extensive consolidation in healthcare through mergers and acquisitions and large organizations buying market shares from their small competitors. As a result, the cost of medical care provided has significantly risen. Additionally, competition has created a challenging environment for medical businesses. Small hospitals and medical practices that mainly offer affordable care have found it difficult to operate and stay afloat due to new contracting models requiring more scale for coverage (Ginsburg, 2016). Also, the choice by young physicians to seek employment instead of opening private practices has further aggravated the situation. Consequently, the businesses have exited the market, causing medical care costs to go up. Question 2 The most predominant cost reduction policies include standardization and bundling of contracts. Standardization is ef...