ABSTRACT
Medicine and health care have a long history of being treated as special. There are some obvious ways in which the way we interact with the health sector is different from our dealings with other providers of goods and services. Doctors advise us on what services we need and often also provide them. Some health services are used when we are very ill and may not be able to make sensible decisions. Some health care decisions are literally about life and death. In many cases interventions have very uncertain effects for any individual. Another problem is timing. In general we are healthier when relatively young and relatively rich. These are times when we are least likely to need health care, but most likely to be able to afford it. Perhaps the most important feature of our need for health care is that we seldom know in advance what we will need, when we will need it and how much we will need. Another interesting feature is that few of us actually want to use health services – we do so because we hope they will improve our health. Indeed, use of health services is often unpleasant. Most things we buy are more enjoyable to consume.
