ABSTRACT
This chapter describes health capital investment as a choice made by the consumer who values health but who also values the home good, which involves all the goods made possible by using income and time. It examines how income will be used to buy those market goods, such as medical care, that will in turn help the consumer produce health investment and the home good. As with the demand for health capital model, standard indifference curve analysis of consumer choice under a budget constraint describes the consumer with fairly strong assumptions. Clinicians and policymakers widely believed that greater patient involvement in their treatment can reduce costs while also improving patient outcomes. Tak Hyo-Jung, Gregory W. Ruhnke, and David O. eltzer surveyed nearly 22,000 patients admitted to a major hospital with questions about their preferences for involvement in medical decisions. The consumer faces a trade-off in the marketplace between the uses of income to purchase medical care.