Conclusion Healthcare operates within the market system, and is subject to opportunity costs like any other good or service. However, overall the healthcare system does not operate upon the principles of efficiency, often due to the bureaucracy of the healthcare system and its methods of reimbursement and prioritizing acute over primary care. References

Gawande, Atul. (2009, June 1). The cost conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 2, 2011 at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande#ixzz1CpZ4jbVR

Gawande, Atul. (2011, January 24). The hot spotters. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 2,

2011 at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/atul_gawande/search?contributorName=atul%20gawande

Martin, & Peter a Singer (2004). Setting priorities in health
care organizations: criteria, processes, and parameters of success

BMC Health Service Research, 4: 25. Retrieved February 2, 2011 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC518972/

Maher, Maggie. (2008, October 9). The Medicaid challenge, Part II: Reimbursement & the federal government. Health Beat Blog. Retrieved February 2, 2011 at http://www.healthbeatblog.org/2008/10/the-medicaid -- 1.html

What is the nursing shortage and why does it exist? (2007, October 13). Center for Nursing

Advocacy, Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2011 at http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/faq/nursing_shortage.html