Social costs related to policy decisions in health care

Abstract

The aim of this study is to discuss how social costs in health social policies can be evaluated. Which are implications of health policy decisions, embodied in what I have called the social costs of these decisions? Among the social costs that we can intuitively detect are poor indicators of health status and poor indicators of health system, poor indicators in equal distribution of services. Are these enough indicators to measure social costs in health social policies? Economical definitions of social costs refer a cost to society because of an action or a policy change, referring to negative externalities. How health policy decisions generate social costs?