When healthcare is looked at from a national perspective, it rises above the ambit of clinical attention and nursing to a matter of government policy. Among the major drivers of government policy is economic considerations as engendered in established economic concepts. Every professional in the healthcare sector aspires to see every patient treated to the fullest extent with no limitations emanating from pecuniary need. The idea of expanding medical insurance to cover all Americans would be pleasant for all, especially for a hospital CEO. This is because it would eliminate the recurring problem of how to handle patients who cannot afford the treatment that they desperately need. The policymakers, however, must consider if this is possible and the economic dynamics it will involve and influence at a macroeconomic level. This is the dilemma that faces the government when it comes to the subject of universal healthcare or single payer universal health cover (Akadjian, 2017) . When all things are considered, the economy would take an interim bump from the transition to a universal healthcare system but the eventual outcome would be positive.
Scarcity of Resources
The US is perhaps the only developed country in the world that does not provide a form of guaranteed primary healthcare. Expanding the modern form of government-sponsored health insurance to all citizens, even those without any income could cure this problem. The concept of scarcity of resources, however, seats at the very center of this issue for consideration from an economic perspective. The concept of scarcity of resources outlines the fact that wants are infinite but resources are limited (Mankiw, 2014) . From the perspective of universal healthcare, scarcity of resources relate to whether or not America can afford to provide insurance for all its citizens. This is especially in the light of the fact that most of the citizens who are not covered do not have any form of income, thus the government has to shoulder the entire cost. Further, making healthcare facilities available to all at an unlimited scope also introduces the question of whether the resources currently available in the American healthcare system are sufficient.
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According to Khazan (2017), a single-payer healthcare insurance system that incorporates all Americans would add a massive burden to the taxpayer. The number of Americans currently not covered by any form of healthcare insurance stands at approximately 20% of the US population. This represents around 65 million people. Even under the most modest healthcare regimen, the level of insurance necessary to cover these individuals will be in the billions or trillions of dollars. Yet, the government is already undergoing a budgetary deficit meaning that the additional resources to cater for the insurance premiums will not be available. From this perspective of the scarcity of resources, therefore, the idea of a universal insurance cover may not be feasible.
Further, the currently available healthcare resources in the USA may not be capable of handling the sheer volume of work that would be introduced if a universal healthcare cover were introduced. Currently, most Americans, including some who have limited insurance covers only visit a healthcare institution when they can, not when they need to visit. Those Americans who are covered by Medicaid are able to visit the hospital when they need services. If this privilege is extended to all Americans, there would be a high increase in the number of Americans visiting emergency rooms (Akadjian, 2017). This would overstretch the available resources thus creating a fresh crisis.
Opportunity Cost
Opportunity cost relates to the loss of alternatives when one alternative is chosen. In every economic decision, there will be several options available for the policymakers to make a choice. When one option is selected, the other options are lost to the decision-maker (Mankiw, 2014) . Opportunity cost means what has been lost by not choosing the other available options. If the government extends Medicaid to cover all US citizens, it means that a vast majority of medical costs in the USA will be paid en masse by the US government. Over the years, the US healthcare industry, from hospitals to pharmaceutical manufacturers have taken the capitalist approach and raked in massive profits. This is inter alia based on the low capability of individual consumers to negotiate a lower cost for healthcare services. There is no doubt that the government will seek to negotiate more acceptable terms for medical services and pharmacological supplies. The massive healthcare industry will be greatly affected by this as they will have to change the premium pricing approach to economies of scale (Khazan, 2017) . This will lead to reduced profit margins with some players in the industry who specialize in premium pricing having to close down. Companies that have spent billions of dollars developing high-end pharmaceutical products would lose their investment. The expansion of Medicaid to all citizens would completely transform the healthcare system to the benefit of the patients and the detriment of service providers. The perspective of opportunity cost, therefore, does not favor the expansion of Medicaid to all Americans.
Price Inelasticity of Demand
Free economies are controlled by market dynamics. When demand goes up, it is checked by the increase in price, especially if the increase in demand begins to overstretch the resources. Similarly, when demand goes down, supply goes up and the prices will reduce to encourage demand. This makes price the elastic component that creates a balance between demand and supply. As indicated above, when all Americans are placed in Medicaid, the ability to negotiate prices will favor the single payer of insurance premiums. The elasticity of prices as a control factor for demand and supply will be extremely limited (Folland et al, 2016) . Yet at the same time, Americans will be able to visit hospitals as and when they need or even want. This will create an extremely high influx of demand, which can no longer be controlled by price. Healthcare is a service-oriented sector where actual production cannot suddenly be enhanced to meet the surging demand. This makes pricing crucial to the sector as a means of controlling supply thus keeping the industry balanced and operational. When the price is eliminated at the same time as the augmentation of demand, there is a high possibility of the collapse of the entire industry. Even those who can afford healthcare services without the Medicaid expansion might not be able to access the services due to the heightened and runaway demand. This is what is meant by the statement: Laszewski compares trying to rein in health-care costs by dramatically cutting payment rates to seeing a truck going 75 miles an hour suddenly slam on the brakes (Khazan, 2017) .
Economic concepts enable policymakers to tell the difference between ideas that sound good and good ideas. From the perspective of the hospital CEO, the idea of expanding Medicaid to all Americans sound like a great idea. However, when the same is tested against sound economic concepts such as price inelasticity of demand, opportunity cost, and scarcity of resources, it not only looks like a bad idea but also a terrible idea. Its implementation would transform the US healthcare system from a bad but functional system to an absolutely ineffective one. This means that from the perspective of economic concepts and economic considerations, expanding Medicaid to cover all Americans is not feasible.
References
Akadjian, D. (2017, July 23). Universal health care would save $17 trillion . Retrieved November 01, 2017, from https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/23/1682312/-Universal-health-care-would-save-17-trillion
Folland, S., Goodman, A. C., & Stano, M. (2016). The Economics of Health and Health Care: Pearson International Edition . New York: Routledge
Khazan, O. (2017, August 21). Are you sure you want single payer ? Retrieved November 01, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/are-you-sure-you-want-single-payer/537456/
Mankiw, N. G. (2014). Principles of macroeconomics . Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning
