Material Detail

This case is based on an episode from NPR's show, This American Life (students can be assigned to either read the transcript or listen to the audio file). The story, "More is Less", originally aired in 2009. The case focuses on the rising costs of health care in the United States and consists of four acts. The first three each provide several short stories highlighting the role health care providers, patients, and insurance companies play in driving up the cost of care.This case provides an excellent opportunity for students to apply the theoretical material from a Health Care Economics course to a variety of short, real world, scenarios. Students are assigned to either read or listen to the case in full and to act as a "lawyer" for one of the groups featured in the first three acts. Their mission is to use relevant economic tools and theories to defend their "client" and to demonstrate why the other two groups are truly to blame. From this experience students gain an understanding of the complex relationships and interactions that take place in health care markets.