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Discussion of health care costs has expanded beyond the technical domains of accountancy and entered the realms of public discourse. Analyses this discourse through an examination of all the stories published in The New York Times between 1 April 1992 and 1 May 1993 which contained the phrase “health care costs”. Describes the current discourse and examines how antagonostic social interests strive to inscribe the concept of health care cost with conflicting meanings and ideological accents.

The effects of disability are well recognised by the social security systems worldwide. This study aims to examine the disability and health-related costs of Syrian migrants in Turkey using the standard of living (SoL) approach.

The empirical analysis relies on primary data collected from 1,067 Syrian migrants in Turkey, and the author applies the ordered Probit model. The SoL is operationalized by frequency of attendance to a Turkish theatrical play or movie, inviting Turkish friends for food and attending a theatrical play or movie with Turkish friends.

The findings show that health problems and disability are negatively related to the frequency of participation in socio-cultural activities. Moreover, employed, wealthier and educated Syrian migrants participate more frequently in the social and cultural activities explored.

The results show that the costs range between 9% and 38%, which translates in monetary values between 3,700 and 10,700 Turkish Liras (TL) per annum or between US$530 and US$1,530 expressed in 2020 values. These findings highlight the significant cost and burden that disability and health problems may put in migrant households.

Policies encouraging immigrants to participate in socio-cultural events, particularly those with disabilities and health issues, may promote their integration into the host society’s social and cultural values. Furthermore, policies improving employment opportunities, income and educational attainment of Syrian migrants may enhance their participation in socio-cultural activities.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study exploring the disability and health costs of migrants related to integration and participation in cultural activities.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

The goal of this review is to present the literature which provides evidence of the association between health risks and the workplace economic measures of time away from work, reduced productivity at work, health care costs and pharmaceutical costs.

A search of PubMed was conducted which combined the keyword search terms “health risks” with “health costs”, “pharmaceutical costs”, “absenteeism”, “productivity”, “workers compensation”, and “presenteeism”. High quality studies were selected and combined with studies known to the authors.

A strong body of evidence exists which shows that health risks of employees are associated with health care costs and pharmaceutical costs. A growing body of literature also confirms that health risks are associated with the productivity measures of time away from work, workers' compensation, absenteeism and presenteeism. Furthermore, studies have shown that changes in risks are associated with changes in health care costs, time‐away‐from‐work and presenteeism.

The paper shows that measures of success will continue to be important as the field of worksite health management moves forward. Research needs to progress beyond simple associations to the evaluation of changes in costs, trends and transitions over time.

The purpose of this paper is to document the total return on investment (ROI) of a comprehensive worksite health program from 1999 to 2007 through two different analytic approaches.

Two analytical techniques were used: time period analysis and historical trend analysis of the entire study period. The time‐period analysis of ROI was performed among employees in four time periods: 1999‐2001; 2002‐2003, 2004‐2005; and 2006‐2007. The historical trend analysis on participation‐related savings was used to compare the financial trend differences between participants and non‐participants as well as the three different participation levels of continuous, sporadic, and non‐participants since the year 2000 among 2,753 employees who worked for and were covered by the company‐sponsored health plans for the entire study period.

The ROI from health care costs and time away from work ranged from 1.29 to 2.07 for the four time periods with a cumulative ROI of 1.66 over nine years. The historical trend analysis of 2,753 long‐term employees resulted in a 1.57 ROI for 2,036 program participants (t‐test: p<0.005) with statistically significant annual saving of $180 per participant per year.

The returns on comprehensive worksite health program were greater than the program investment as documented by both time‐period and historical trend analyses. Organizations seeking ways to manage the increases in health care and absenteeism costs of employees will be encouraged to see that positive returns can be generated by investments in employee health and wellness and steady or consistent participation is one key to generating success.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the knowledge about the use of online communication between patients and health-care professionals in public health care. The study explores digital divide gaps and the impacts of online communication on the overall costs of health care.

This study focuses on online health care in Denmark. The authors rely on population data from 3,500 e-visits (e-mail consultations) between patients and general practitioners (GPs) from 2009 to 2015. Additionally, they include survey data on the use of the internet to search for health-related information.

The analysis of the Danish data reveals a rapid uptake in the use of the internet to search for health-related information and a three-fold increase in e-visits from 2009 to 2015. The results show that the digital divide gaps exist also in the online health-care communication. Further, the study findings suggest that enforced supply of online communication between GPs and patients does not alleviate the costs. Rather, the number of visits to GPs has not been decreased significantly and health-care costs showing a marginal increase.

Further data should be collected and analyzed to explore the impacts of other institutional factors and population cohort on the digital divide and healthcare costs. Also, it is difficult to estimate whether the increased use of online health care in the long run lead to lowering overall health-care costs. While the internal validity of the study is high due to the use of population data, the external validity is lower as the study results are based on the data collected in Denmark only.

The study offers important input for practice. First, leaders in government might reconsider how they can control the health-care costs when opening online channels for communication between patients and doctors. Second, concerns about digital divide issues remains, but the study suggests that the uptake of e-visits does not widen the socio-economic, gender or age gaps. For health policy concern, this is encouraging news to lead to an increasing push of online communication.

The dynamics of online health-care communication may lead to mixed results and unexpected impacts on overall health-care costs.

The paper offers new insights in the impacts of mandatory supply of digital services. The Danish push-strategy has led to an enforced supply of e-visits and a rapid growing use of the online health care without widening digital divide but at the risk of potential increasing the overall costs.

Since the mid‐1980s the major players in US health care have argued that costs and benefits should underlie the allocation of health care resources. Looks at 30 cost benefit studies taken from the medical literature and examines five of them in depth, using the “depth hermeneutical” approach advocated by Thompson (1990). Concludes that cost benefit studies are about not only the co‐ordination of interests but also the obscuring and exclusion of other interests.