Health Economics: between Public and Individual

Currently, amidst a polycrisis, the challenge of ensuring resources to meet the population's healthcare needs is acute. This has led to increased interest in economic methods and approaches to financing and organizing the healthcare system. This is especially important in the context of declining economic growth, when competition between various sectors for public resources is intensifying. Healthcare economics aims to find ways to effectively and fairly distribute limited resources, providing scientifically sound economic foundations for political and managerial decisions.This article examines issues of economic theory as they apply to healthcare system. Three main areas are identified: understanding the specifics of medical services, expanding the scope of application of the investment approach, and using the results of behavioral economics to protect population health. Their evolution and current status are discussed. It is noted that even within the classical paradigm, economic theory offers varying understandings of the essence of economic processes in healthcare, and, based on this, various management mechanisms are proposed. Methodological problems arising in empirical research are highlighted, primarily related to the choice of metrics for measuring the performance of the healthcare system. The main premise is to determine the relationship between the role of the individual and society in satisfying health needs, paternalism and freedom of choice, and the interaction between the state and other economic sectors. At the same time, a critical analysis of the presented approaches, which are widely used in health economics, revealed the need to incorporate the work of other schools of economic thought.