Sketch out a projected life cycle profile of each person’s health stock

1. Consider two 30 year old males.  Richard has a family history of prostate cancer and started getting annual screenings at the age of 30.  He and his family have decided that they will “fight” until the end should anything happen to Richard.  Larry also has a similar family history of prostate cancer, refuses to go the doctor, has been smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day since he was 16, and will not “fight” until the end.

1. Sketch out a projected life cycle profile of each person’s health stock in a manner similar to question 2 (i.e., how does a person’s health change as he ages).  Be sure to label events that are likely to happen, as well as treatments.
2. Accompanying your sketches, discuss each person’s health: who has higher health at each point in time? Who will live longer? Compare outcomes when a terminal disease first onsets (i.e., how does health change, as well as life expectancy, if both get prostate cancer at the same age?).
3. Compare spending on healthcare over their lifetimes.  Who spends more, who spends less? Is it obvious?
4. How would your sketches change if Richard stopped getting screening, or if Larry quit smoking right away?