Health economics and its impact

Singapore has one of the fastest ageing societies in the world.  With increased life expectancy, consumer expectations and the presence of third-party players such as the Government and insurers, there is growing pressure on healthcare budgets in Singapore and the Asian region.

The need for health economics is critical in a period when many countries in this region are gearing up to dramatically increase their expenditure on healthcare, and to explore universal health coverage.  Moreover, as many societies are concurrently ageing, they face a myriad of issues which are central to the research interests of health economists.

In this podcast, Dr Rhema Vaithianathan, who is a Visiting Professor of Economics at SMU’s School of Economics, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, shares her insights on the relevance and impact of research in health economics.