Economics of health care: challenges for the immediate future

A number of widely held but largely false assumptions as to the nature of health and health care contributed to the very slow growth in the demand for health economics during the formative years of our health care system. A growing realisation, however, that hard rationing decisions are unavoidable has led to an increasing appreciation of the fact that policy makers and managers often lack the necessary basic information or the techniques relevant to the purpose. This paper proposes the formation of a centre for health economics and policy and outlines in broad terms its possible nature and research agenda.