ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the basic tenets of post-Keynesian economics and applies them to the problems of healthcare and health insurance. It also contrasts the post-Keynesian approach to health economics with standard neoclassical formulations of these issues. Several foundational post-Keynesian tenets inform this alternative: (1) uncertainty (rather than risk) as a factor in decision-making; (2) income effects trumping substitution effects; (3) a focus on historical time rather than equilibrium analysis when analyzing economic dynamics; and (4) recognizing that imperfect competition is the norm in developed capitalist economies, rather than competitive markets. The chapter explains these post-Keynesian principles and then applies them to a selection of pertinent policy issues surrounding healthcare, with a geographical focus on the US. The chapter concludes by reflecting on a post-Keynesian approach to the health crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and outlining some economic policies to deal with the ongoing economic instability it has engendered.
