American Health Care: Government, Market Processes and the Public Interest

By Roger D. Feldman

Book Overview

President Clinton's health care reform proposals of 1993 represented the most far-reaching program of social engineering attempted in the United States since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560004304
• ISBN13: 9781560004301
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Sound Analysis

The collection of original essays in this volume is impressive. Together, they explore the history and current state of government policy toward health care in the United States. Each essay is clear and relevant. And the proposals make great good sense. Health care is far too important a service to be left in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats. This book helps explain why.

from Business Information Alert

"American Health Care" is a collection of multidisciplinary essays supporting the argument that government and business must assume appropriate roles within health care to effectively change it. Working within these seemingly disparate roles, government and business should focus on how the private health market can further the health care system's ability to provide social services as a function in the marketplace.The book challenges the concept that government can effectively manage the nation's health care. This model -- the authors collectively suggest -- was questioned by the public through a lack of support for the 1993 Clinton health care reform package. The editor compiles the analyses of expert economists, physicians, lawyers, and historians to explain the underlying rationale behind the public hesitancy to accept the notion that government should and can fix the deficiencies of the US health care system.'American Health Care" provides insight that allows learned readers to speculate about where markets can take health care now and in the future. Its authors recognize that there are no fast solutions coming down the pike. This work presents concepts that are intended to generate constructive conversation toward the improvement of health care. The ideas are supported through the substantial notes and references accompanying each chapter.Topics of discussion covered by the contributors represent four major policy areas that provide stumbling blocks to system-wide change. Essays in the first section contain discussions of the issues involved with health insurance financing, including an in-depth analysis of the Medicare program. In part 2, contributors look at health care services and institutions, antitrust issues, and reform at the state level. The effects of regulation on the drug approval process and its impact on patient care is examined in part 3, and the final section of the book looks at issues involving liability, licensing, and the health care fee structure.The Independent Institue of California is a public policy education and reserch organization the aims -- through its various publishing programs -- to redefine the debate over public issues. In "American Health Care," it has provided ample scholarship to do so.