Socioeconomic Factors Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Week 12, Spring 2016 May 18, 2016 1 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Health care spending and types of societal problems The U.S. spends more on medical care than anyone else in the world, but it is unclear whether or not the Americans are healthier than the foreign counterparts or not. Types of societal problems The liberal view believes that government should become involved in social programs. The conservative view believes that government involvement may worsen the social problems. 2 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
AIDS in the U.S. More than 33 million people worldwide are infected with the HIV that causes (AIDS) and more than 16 million have already died. By the end of 1999, almost 725,000 U.S. cases reported to Centers for Disease Control and 400,000 Americans died of the diseases. AIDS was first discovered in clinical studies in 1981. The fatality rate for those infected is 58.8% for adults and 58.5% for children. Transmission of the virus that causes AIDS has slowed dramatically. Nearly one-half of all new HIV infections are occurring in the drug injecting population. 3 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Risk to the population Every one is at risk to be infected, but it is also true that we are not all equally at risk of contracting the deadly virus. The transmission of the AIDS virus is primarily an inner-city problem that affect the minority community disproportionately and especially the intervenous drug-using segment of that community. For the heterosexual community, the most important risk factor is the identity of the potential sex partners. The greater risks involve homosexual contact and IV drug use. A lifetime healthcare costs of treating an AIDS patient was $69,100 (Hellingers, 1999). Some once considered eradicated diseases in developed countries such as tuberculosis (TB) is reborn due to AIDS. 4 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Impact throughout the world AIDS has reached epidemic proportions in parts of the world. The fastest growing region for HIV infection is Southeast Asia. The impact has both social and economic components. The long-term impact of AIDS will be determined by its effect on the labor supply. 5 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Violence 6 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Violence 6 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Violence 6 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Violence Death Emergency department visit. Domestic violence: In an average 12-month period, two million American women are severely beaten by their male partners. More than half of the women murdered in the U.S. are killed by a current or former partner. Twenty percent of all adult women, 15 percent of all college women, and 12 percent of adolescent girls will experience sexual abuse or assault in their lifetimes. More than one-third of all obestetric patients are abused while they are pregnant. 6 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Drug abuse 7 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Drug abuse 7 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Drug abuse Overall drug use in the U.S. has fallen by 50 percent over the years. However, drug use among young adults is rising and fewer teenagers think cocaine is harmful. How about China? Do we have credible estimate for this? Healthcare implications of cocaine use. Personal health risk associated with the occasional use of cocaine is significant. Cocaine and pregnancy Cocaine has serious effects on birth outcomes. Substance abuse is the leading healthcare cost problem in the U.S. and total costs of drug runs into the billions of dollars. Intervention options: drug-free or legalization. 7 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Tobacco and alcohol abuse 8 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Tobacco and alcohol abuse The results of alcohol and tobacco consumption include not only the obvious health problems, but also include crime, auto fatalities, and lost productivity on the job. The estimated cost of alcohol abuse was $166 billion in 1995 (Henderson, 2002). More recent estimates from the CDC place the annual health care costs associated with tobacco use between $50 and $73 billion (200). An overall decline in the prevalence of tobacco use in the U.S. has occurred among both males and females. One of the reasons that women live longer in most societies is that they do not smoke with the same regularity as men. 8 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Teen Pregnancy 9 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Teen Pregnancy Teen mothers are more likely to receive inadequate prenatal care, smoke cigarettes, having infants with low birth weights and experience a higher rate of preterm births. Black teens are more likely to be pregnant, less likely to use the fee prenatal care, begin prenatal care later and more likely to have low-birth babies. Low birth weights lead to longer hospital stays, driving up the cost of newborn care. Births to teenage and unmarried women in the U.S. are declining in almost all racial and ethnic categories. How about China? 9 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Sexually transmitted diseases and homelessness Sexual promiscuity is undermining the public health of the nation. The efficiency of condom use on the incidence of STDs is widely debated. The homeless population in the U.S. has been estimated at somewhere 250,000 and 3 million. Homelessness is associated with a range of social, mental health, criminal, alcohol, and drug problems. The homeless suffer from a wide range of physical and mental health problems. 10 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Instituitional corruption 11 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors
Instituitional corruption 11 / 11 Guochang Zhao RIEM, SWUFE Socioeconomic Factors