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Health Economics 1, POPH90094
Major Essay (50%)
Guidelines
2024
Contents
1. Essay topics ................................................................................................................... 1
2. Due date ........................................................................................................................ 2
3. Purpose of essay ............................................................................................................ 2
4. Content guidelines ......................................................................................................... 3
5. Presentation guidelines: ................................................................................................. 3
6. Marking criteria ............................................................................................................... 4
7. Academic Integrity .......................................................................................................... 4
8. Extensions ...................................................................................................................... 5
9. Some tips and tricks ....................................................................................................... 5
1. Essay topics
Write your essay on one of the following four topics.
Topic 1: “There is evidence that pharmaceutical prices are often unfair. Many
prices exceed affordability and value for money thresholds and are not justified by
research and development costs...Policies that extend intellectual property rights
and limit price controls work against universal health and access to necessary
medicines.” (Morgan et al., 2020, p.3). Discuss using one or two specific
pharmaceutical products.
Topic 2: “It has been estimated that approximately one-third of medical care does
not improve health, while another 10% is harmful to health [1]. [...] We see the
waste and harm that come from performing or prescribing unnecessary,
ineffective, or marginally effective tests and treatments as well as the perverse
incentives that are rife in a medical system based upon the business model of
healthcare.” (Buchbinder & Harris, 2022, p.350) Discuss using one or two specific
treatments.
Topic 3: Governments should “support general practice in [the] management of
complex chronic disease through blended funding models integrated with fee-for-
service, with funding for longer consultations and incentives that better promote
quality bundles of care for people who need it most.” (Australian Government
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Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, 2022, p.5) Discuss the need and expected
effectiveness of this recommendation.
Topic 4: In an effort to increase the rates of younger Australian taking out Private
Health Insurance, the government has introduced reforms that allows insurers to
offer discounts on premiums for 18 to 29 year olds, higher excesses in exchange for
lower premiums and increased the maximum age for dependents to be included on
the family policy. Discuss the need and effectiveness of these reforms.
References
Australian Government Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. (2022). Strengthening
Medicare Taskforce Report December 2022.
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-02/strengthening-medicare-
taskforce-report_0.pdf
Buchbinder, R., & Harris, I.A. (2022). Are Doctors Living Up to the Ideals Expressed in
the Hippocratic Oath? Israel Medical Association Journal, 24(6), 350-52.
https://www.ima.org.il/MedicineIMAJ/Article.aspx?aId=5091
Morgan, S.G., Bathula, H.S., & Moon, S. (2020). Pricing of pharmaceuticals is becoming
a major challenge for health systems. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 368, l4627.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4627.
2. Due date
• Due date is 12pm, Wednesday 5
th
June 2024.
• Please do not leave it till the very last minute to upload in case it takes a while for
the system to allow an upload.
3. Purpose of essay
The main purpose of is for you to demonstrate your understanding of health economics
and your ability to apply health economics theory, empirical evidence and data to
health policy issues. Specifically, you will be able to show you can:
• describe a current health policy issue using economic concepts,
• interpret and present economic data and evidence,
• identify the key problems and economic concepts/theories involved,
• analyse the issue from a health economics perspective,
• identify and evaluate relevant evidence including empirical studies and
secondary data sources,
• analyse, critically evaluate and comment on evidence,
• develop and clearly present an argument,
• apply critical thinking skills, and
• communicate concisely and effectively.
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4. Content guidelines
• The focus of your essay should be applying economic theory and evidence. This
means using the economic theory discussed in class to frame the issues within the
topic you are discussing and supporting all your arguments with evidence. You are
expected to:
- present data that highlights the significance of the issue,
- define and analyse the relevant health care market(s),
- identify and discuss any market failures that exist and may justify
government intervention in the relevant health care market(s),
- look at the advantages and disadvantages of any policy and the health care
system from an economic perspective, and
- present and discuss economic data and/or literature in support of your
arguments.
• You are expected to integrate your knowledge of public health and health care
systems into your answers. This includes concisely describing those aspects of how
the health care system works to meet its stated objectives that are relevant to the
topic. This is particularly important when discussing the issues in the context of a
health care system that is not the Australian health care system and therefore not
familiar to the reader.
• If you are discussing a statement, try and incorporate some balance into your
response – include reasons why the statement may be correct and reasons why it
may be incorrect.
• You may give an opinion, using the evidence (both theory and empirical evidence) to
develop a case or argument to support this view.
• You are not conducting a systematic review nor expected to conduct an extensive
review of the evidence. You should use between 10 and 40 references
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.
• You are not expected to conduct anything beyond simple data analysis.
• You are not expected to have a definitive answer to the question in the essay – the
conclusion may be that there is insufficient evidence.
5. Presentation guidelines:
• Word limit: 2500 words (+/- 10% - standard UoM policy will apply). The world limit
excludes references, tables, and figures. Please write the word count on the title
page.
• Please use:
- A title page that includes the following information: Essay title, name,
student ID, Date, word count (i.e. the number of words)
- Double spaced
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The restriction on the maximum number of references is for your benefit – to ensure you spend your time
thinking about and writing up the economics components and not on too much time on reading
secondary material. This is a guide. You will not have marks taken off if you go above this number of
references.
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- Size 12 Aptos
- Student ID at top right-hand corner of each page
- Page number at centre of bottom of each page
- Submission file name as “2024_HE1_Topic X _last name_first name” (where
X is 1, 2, 3, or 4)
- Australian English spelling
- Document formats: word
• If including tables or figures, please number all tables and figures and ensure all
tables and figures have a heading.
• Please use APA 7 referencing style and include the doi or url to the reference.
References do not count as part of the word limit.
6. Marking criteria
Please see the Assessment Rubric provided separately.
7. Academic Integrity
You are expected to know, and comply with, UoM policy on plagiarism. See
https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/
For this assignment you cannot use artificial intelligence software such as ChatGPT
or QuillBot or similar, to generate material for submission. Submitting material
generated in this way as your own work (i.e. ideas, research and/or analysis) is
considered academic misconduct. For more information about the universities policy
on the use of AI, see https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism-and-
collusion/artificial-intelligence-tools-and-technologies
Be aware that the use of translation and editing tools may constitute academic
misconduct if their use has led to you gaining an unfair advantage. For example:
- Using an application to check for grammar errors and minor changes to sentences
should not be considered misconduct provided this has remained within the limits
of acceptable editorial assistance and has been acknowledged by the student.
(https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/resources/academic-
integrity/acknowledging-AI-tools-and-technologies)
- Using an application to paraphrase your work to make your language more
‘scholarly’ is considered misconduct when communication skills and use of
language are intended learning outcomes. This applies to this assignment as you
need to show that you can communicate concisely and effectively (See sections 3
and 6 of these guidelines).
- Completing your work in a language other than English and then using a translator to
rewrite the work into English is misconduct and not unlike engaging a professional
translation and writing service; the work is no longer considered your own work and
will be considered an attempt at gaining an unfair advantage.
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For more information see: https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism-and-
collusion/advice-for-students-regarding-translation-and-editing-tools
Academic integrity is important, so please ask Sabine if you are uncertain whether you
comply. When you submit your Turnitin score will show your similarity score; your AI
score will not be visible but may prompt further investigation. For more information,
see: https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism-and-collusion/artificial-
intelligence-tools-and-technologies/advice-for-students-regarding-turnitin-and-ai-
writing-detection
It is strongly advised that you save versions of your work at various stages of writing your
essay. Having a version history of your essay will allow you to show the subject
coordinator (Sabine) how you have constructed your submission when there are
academic integrity concerns.
8. Extensions
The subject coordinator (Sabine) can issue up to 10 working-days extension where the
capacity to complete work has been affected by significant factors beyond the
student’s control and that can be verified by supporting evidence.
If you need an extension, please email Sabine ([email protected]) at least 24
hours in advance of the deadline, i.e. before 12pm on Tuesday June 4
th
.
If you require a longer extension, you can apply for Special Consideration:
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/your-course/manage-your-course/exams-
assessments-and-results/special-consideration
For more details you can see the MSPGH policies on the Canvas MSPGH Student
Community.
9. Some tips and tricks
• Try to lead the reader through the essay. The reader should be able to easily follow
the logic in the argument you are making. Your introduction should establish the
purpose and scope of your essay and provide a road map to guide the readers. If you
are presenting any data, make it clear what you want the reader to take away from
the data. If you are going to present a number of different points to support an
argument, tell the reader you are about to do that.
• Try and put things in your own words (with citation) unless the way in which the
authors say it is so good it is worthy of a direct quotation. Use “ “ when using a direct
quote and include a page number in the reference.
• Referencing should be sufficiently clear that the reader can tell when an idea is
yours versus when it is being appropriately attributed to someone else.
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• You do not need to reference core aspects of accepted economic theory – you
should not reference lecture slides.
• Always reference the source of data such that it can be traced – if you cite a website
also give the date accessed.
• In conducting a literature review it is a good idea to use formal databases and think
carefully about search terms (Econlit, Medline). Google scholar can be useful e.g.
for citation searches of very relevant papers but treat it with caution as it may
exclude important work (note it can be useful for your referencing as you can easily
identify papers and use the referencing software files e.g. the Endnote file to directly
import the reference to Endnote – no typing involved!)
• It is OK to use data which is a few years out of date. This will not impact upon your
ability to demonstrate that you can apply economic theory and interpret evidence.
Also note that there is a time-delay in data recording. Don’t spend too long looking
for the perfect data.
Links to academic skills websites
• Assistance on how to write essays can be found here:
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/explore-our-resources/essay-
writing
• For further advice on how to use referencing appropriately see
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/explore-our-
resources/referencing and https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite
• It is recommended to use a referencing software see
https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/reference-management-software
GOOD LUCK & ENJOY!
