History and Health Policy in the United States

History and Health Policy in the United States

Author: Rosemary A. Stevens

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2006-06-01

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0813539870

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In our rapidly advancing scientific and technological world, many take great pride and comfort in believing that we are on the threshold of new ways of thinking, living, and understanding ourselves. But despite dramatic discoveries that appear in every way to herald the future, legacies still carry great weight. Even in swiftly developing fields such as health and medicine, most systems and policies embody a sequence of earlier ideas and preexisting patterns. In History and Health Policy in the United States, seventeen leading scholars of history, the history of medicine, bioethics, law, health policy, sociology, and organizational theory make the case for the usefulness of history in evaluating and formulating health policy today. In looking at issues as varied as the consumer economy, risk, and the plight of the uninsured, the contributors uncover the often unstated assumptions that shape the way we think about technology, the role of government, and contemporary medicine. They show how historical perspectives can help policymakers avoid the pitfalls of partisan, outdated, or merely fashionable approaches, as well as how knowledge of previous systems can offer alternatives when policy directions seem unclear. Together, the essays argue that it is only by knowing where we have been that we can begin to understand health services today or speculate on policies for tomorrow.


Book Synopsis History and Health Policy in the United States by : Rosemary A. Stevens

Download or read book History and Health Policy in the United States written by Rosemary A. Stevens and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2006-06-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our rapidly advancing scientific and technological world, many take great pride and comfort in believing that we are on the threshold of new ways of thinking, living, and understanding ourselves. But despite dramatic discoveries that appear in every way to herald the future, legacies still carry great weight. Even in swiftly developing fields such as health and medicine, most systems and policies embody a sequence of earlier ideas and preexisting patterns. In History and Health Policy in the United States, seventeen leading scholars of history, the history of medicine, bioethics, law, health policy, sociology, and organizational theory make the case for the usefulness of history in evaluating and formulating health policy today. In looking at issues as varied as the consumer economy, risk, and the plight of the uninsured, the contributors uncover the often unstated assumptions that shape the way we think about technology, the role of government, and contemporary medicine. They show how historical perspectives can help policymakers avoid the pitfalls of partisan, outdated, or merely fashionable approaches, as well as how knowledge of previous systems can offer alternatives when policy directions seem unclear. Together, the essays argue that it is only by knowing where we have been that we can begin to understand health services today or speculate on policies for tomorrow.

Introduction to U.S. Health Policy

Introduction to U.S. Health Policy

Author: Donald A. Barr

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2011-12-01

Total Pages: 659

ISBN-13: 1421402971

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Health care reform has dominated public discourse over the past several years, and the recent passage of the Affordable Care Act, rather than quell the rhetoric, has sparked even more debate. Donald A. Barr reviews the current structure of the American health care system, describing the historical and political contexts in which it developed and the core policy issues that continue to confront us today. This comprehensive analysis introduces the various organizations and institutions that make the U.S. health care system work—or fail to work, as the case may be. A principal message of the book is the seeming paradox of the quality of health care in this country—on the one hand it is the best medical care system in the world, on the other it is one of the worst among developed countries because of how it is organized. Barr introduces readers to broad cultural issues surrounding health care policy, such as access, affordability, and quality. He discusses specific elements of U.S. health care, including insurance, especially Medicare and Medicaid, the shift to for-profit managed care, the pharmaceutical industry, issues of long-term care, the plight of the uninsured, medical errors, and nursing shortages. The latest edition of this widely adopted text updates the description and discussion of key sectors of America’s health care system in light of the Affordable Care Act.


Book Synopsis Introduction to U.S. Health Policy by : Donald A. Barr

Download or read book Introduction to U.S. Health Policy written by Donald A. Barr and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Health care reform has dominated public discourse over the past several years, and the recent passage of the Affordable Care Act, rather than quell the rhetoric, has sparked even more debate. Donald A. Barr reviews the current structure of the American health care system, describing the historical and political contexts in which it developed and the core policy issues that continue to confront us today. This comprehensive analysis introduces the various organizations and institutions that make the U.S. health care system work—or fail to work, as the case may be. A principal message of the book is the seeming paradox of the quality of health care in this country—on the one hand it is the best medical care system in the world, on the other it is one of the worst among developed countries because of how it is organized. Barr introduces readers to broad cultural issues surrounding health care policy, such as access, affordability, and quality. He discusses specific elements of U.S. health care, including insurance, especially Medicare and Medicaid, the shift to for-profit managed care, the pharmaceutical industry, issues of long-term care, the plight of the uninsured, medical errors, and nursing shortages. The latest edition of this widely adopted text updates the description and discussion of key sectors of America’s health care system in light of the Affordable Care Act.

Origins of American Health Insurance

Origins of American Health Insurance

Author: John E. Murray

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

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How did the United States come to have its distinctive workplace-based health insurance system? Why did Progressive initiatives to establish a government system fail? This book explores the history of health insurance in the United States from its roots in the nineteenth-century sickness funds offered by industrial employers, fraternal organizations, and labor unions to the rise of such group plans as Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the mid-twentieth century. Historians generally view the failure to establish universal health insurance during the first half of the twentieth century as an indicator of the political clout of insurers, employers, unions, and physicians who thwarted Progressive efforts. But the explanation is actually simpler, John Murray contends in this book. Careful analysis of the workings of industrial sickness funds suggests that workers rejected plans for compulsory state insurance because they were largely content with existing private plans. Murray revises our understanding of the evolution of health care insurance in the United States and discusses the implications of that history for the ongoing debates of today.


Book Synopsis Origins of American Health Insurance by : John E. Murray

Download or read book Origins of American Health Insurance written by John E. Murray and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the United States come to have its distinctive workplace-based health insurance system? Why did Progressive initiatives to establish a government system fail? This book explores the history of health insurance in the United States from its roots in the nineteenth-century sickness funds offered by industrial employers, fraternal organizations, and labor unions to the rise of such group plans as Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the mid-twentieth century. Historians generally view the failure to establish universal health insurance during the first half of the twentieth century as an indicator of the political clout of insurers, employers, unions, and physicians who thwarted Progressive efforts. But the explanation is actually simpler, John Murray contends in this book. Careful analysis of the workings of industrial sickness funds suggests that workers rejected plans for compulsory state insurance because they were largely content with existing private plans. Murray revises our understanding of the evolution of health care insurance in the United States and discusses the implications of that history for the ongoing debates of today.

History and Health Policy in the United States

History and Health Policy in the United States

Author: Rosemary Stevens

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9780813538389

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In our rapidly advancing scientific and technological world, many take great pride and comfort in believing that we are on the threshold of new ways of thinking, living, and understanding ourselves. But despite dramatic discoveries that appear in every way to herald the future, legacies still carry great weight. Even in swiftly developing fields such as health and medicine, most systems and policies embody a sequence of earlier ideas and preexisting patterns. In History and Health Policy in the United States, seventeen leading scholars of history, the history of medicine, bioethics, law, health policy, sociology, and organizational theory make the case for the usefulness of history in evaluating and formulating health policy today. In looking at issues as varied as the consumer economy, risk, and the plight of the uninsured, the contributors uncover the often unstated assumptions that shape the way we think about technology, the role of government, and contemporary medicine. They show how historical perspectives can help policymakers avoid the pitfalls of partisan, outdated, or merely fashionable approaches, as well as how knowledge of previous systems can offer alternatives when policy directions seem unclear. Together, the essays argue that it is only by knowing where we have been that we can begin to understand health services today or speculate on policies for tomorrow.


Book Synopsis History and Health Policy in the United States by : Rosemary Stevens

Download or read book History and Health Policy in the United States written by Rosemary Stevens and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our rapidly advancing scientific and technological world, many take great pride and comfort in believing that we are on the threshold of new ways of thinking, living, and understanding ourselves. But despite dramatic discoveries that appear in every way to herald the future, legacies still carry great weight. Even in swiftly developing fields such as health and medicine, most systems and policies embody a sequence of earlier ideas and preexisting patterns. In History and Health Policy in the United States, seventeen leading scholars of history, the history of medicine, bioethics, law, health policy, sociology, and organizational theory make the case for the usefulness of history in evaluating and formulating health policy today. In looking at issues as varied as the consumer economy, risk, and the plight of the uninsured, the contributors uncover the often unstated assumptions that shape the way we think about technology, the role of government, and contemporary medicine. They show how historical perspectives can help policymakers avoid the pitfalls of partisan, outdated, or merely fashionable approaches, as well as how knowledge of previous systems can offer alternatives when policy directions seem unclear. Together, the essays argue that it is only by knowing where we have been that we can begin to understand health services today or speculate on policies for tomorrow.

The Future of Public Health

The Future of Public Health

Author: Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1988-01-15

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0309581907

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"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.


Book Synopsis The Future of Public Health by : Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health

Download or read book The Future of Public Health written by Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1988-01-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.

Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?

Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-04-29

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0309185602

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Bioterrorism, drug-resistant disease, transmission of disease by global travel . . . there's no shortage of challenges facing America's public health officials. Men and women preparing to enter the field require state-of-the-art training to meet these increasing threats to the public health. But are the programs they rely on provide the high caliber professional training they require? Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? provides an overview of the past, present, and future of public health education, assessing its readiness to provide the training and education needed to prepare men and women to face 21st century challenges. Advocating an ecological approach to public health, the Institute of Medicine examines the role of public health schools and degree-granting programs, medical schools, nursing schools, and government agencies, as well as other institutions that foster public health education and leadership. Specific recommendations address the content of public health education, qualifications for faculty, availability of supervised practice, opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and education, cooperation with government agencies, and government funding for education. Eight areas of critical importance to public health education in the 21st century are examined in depth: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. The book also includes a discussion of the policy implications of its ecological framework.


Book Synopsis Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-04-29 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bioterrorism, drug-resistant disease, transmission of disease by global travel . . . there's no shortage of challenges facing America's public health officials. Men and women preparing to enter the field require state-of-the-art training to meet these increasing threats to the public health. But are the programs they rely on provide the high caliber professional training they require? Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? provides an overview of the past, present, and future of public health education, assessing its readiness to provide the training and education needed to prepare men and women to face 21st century challenges. Advocating an ecological approach to public health, the Institute of Medicine examines the role of public health schools and degree-granting programs, medical schools, nursing schools, and government agencies, as well as other institutions that foster public health education and leadership. Specific recommendations address the content of public health education, qualifications for faculty, availability of supervised practice, opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and education, cooperation with government agencies, and government funding for education. Eight areas of critical importance to public health education in the 21st century are examined in depth: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. The book also includes a discussion of the policy implications of its ecological framework.

Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy

Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy

Author: Thomas R. Oliver

Publisher: CQ Press

Published: 2014-09-03

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 1483370453

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Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy provides the analytical connections showing students how issues and actions are translated into public policies and institutions for resolving or managing health care issues and crises, such as the recent attempt to reform the national health care system. The Guide highlights the decision-making cycle that requires the cooperation of government, business, and an informed citizenry in order to achieve a comprehensive approach to advancing the nation’s health care policies. Through 30 topical, operational, and relational essays, the book addresses the development of the U.S. health care system and policies, the federal agencies and public and private organizations that frame and administer those policies, and the challenges of balancing the nation’s health care needs with the rising costs of medical research, cost-effective treatment, and adequate health insurance. Key Features: The 30 topical essays investigate the fundamental political, social, economic, and procedural initiatives that drive health and health care policy decisions affecting Americans at the local, regional, and national levels Essential themes traced throughout the chapters include providing access to health care, national and international intervention, nutrition and health, human and financial resource allocation, freedom of religion versus public policy, discrimination and health care policy, universal health care coverage, private health care versus publicly funded health care, and the immediate and long-term costs associated with disease prevention, treatment, and health maintenance A Glossary of Key Health Care Policy Terms and Events, a selected Master Bibliography, and a thorough Index are included. This must-have reference for political science and public policy students who seek to understand the issues affecting health care policy in the U.S. is suitable for academic, public, high school, government, and professional libraries.


Book Synopsis Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy by : Thomas R. Oliver

Download or read book Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy written by Thomas R. Oliver and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guide to U.S. Health and Health Care Policy provides the analytical connections showing students how issues and actions are translated into public policies and institutions for resolving or managing health care issues and crises, such as the recent attempt to reform the national health care system. The Guide highlights the decision-making cycle that requires the cooperation of government, business, and an informed citizenry in order to achieve a comprehensive approach to advancing the nation’s health care policies. Through 30 topical, operational, and relational essays, the book addresses the development of the U.S. health care system and policies, the federal agencies and public and private organizations that frame and administer those policies, and the challenges of balancing the nation’s health care needs with the rising costs of medical research, cost-effective treatment, and adequate health insurance. Key Features: The 30 topical essays investigate the fundamental political, social, economic, and procedural initiatives that drive health and health care policy decisions affecting Americans at the local, regional, and national levels Essential themes traced throughout the chapters include providing access to health care, national and international intervention, nutrition and health, human and financial resource allocation, freedom of religion versus public policy, discrimination and health care policy, universal health care coverage, private health care versus publicly funded health care, and the immediate and long-term costs associated with disease prevention, treatment, and health maintenance A Glossary of Key Health Care Policy Terms and Events, a selected Master Bibliography, and a thorough Index are included. This must-have reference for political science and public policy students who seek to understand the issues affecting health care policy in the U.S. is suitable for academic, public, high school, government, and professional libraries.

Remedy and Reaction

Remedy and Reaction

Author: Paul Starr

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2013-06-04

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 0300206666

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In no other country has health care served as such a volatile flashpoint of ideological conflict. America has endured a century of rancorous debate on health insurance, and despite the passage of legislation in 2010, the battle is not yet over. This book is a history of how and why the United States became so stubbornly different in health care, presented by an expert with unsurpassed knowledge of the issues. Tracing health-care reform from its beginnings to its current uncertain prospects, Paul Starr argues that the United States ensnared itself in a trap through policies that satisfied enough of the public and so enriched the health-care industry as to make the system difficult to change. He reveals the inside story of the rise and fall of the Clinton health plan in the early 1990sùand of the Gingrich counterrevolution that followed. And he explains the curious tale of how Mitt RomneyÆs reforms in Massachusetts became a model for Democrats and then follows both the passage of those reforms under Obama and the explosive reaction they elicited from conservatives. Writing concisely and with an even hand, the author offers exactly what is needed as the debate continuesùa penetrating account of how health care became such treacherous terrain in American politics.


Book Synopsis Remedy and Reaction by : Paul Starr

Download or read book Remedy and Reaction written by Paul Starr and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In no other country has health care served as such a volatile flashpoint of ideological conflict. America has endured a century of rancorous debate on health insurance, and despite the passage of legislation in 2010, the battle is not yet over. This book is a history of how and why the United States became so stubbornly different in health care, presented by an expert with unsurpassed knowledge of the issues. Tracing health-care reform from its beginnings to its current uncertain prospects, Paul Starr argues that the United States ensnared itself in a trap through policies that satisfied enough of the public and so enriched the health-care industry as to make the system difficult to change. He reveals the inside story of the rise and fall of the Clinton health plan in the early 1990sùand of the Gingrich counterrevolution that followed. And he explains the curious tale of how Mitt RomneyÆs reforms in Massachusetts became a model for Democrats and then follows both the passage of those reforms under Obama and the explosive reaction they elicited from conservatives. Writing concisely and with an even hand, the author offers exactly what is needed as the debate continuesùa penetrating account of how health care became such treacherous terrain in American politics.

The Wages of Sickness

The Wages of Sickness

Author: Beatrix Hoffman

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2003-06-19

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0807860727

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The Clinton administration's failed health care reform was not the first attempt to establish government-sponsored medical coverage in the United States. From 1915 to 1920, Progressive reformers led a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful crusade for compulsory health insurance in New York State. Beatrix Hoffman argues that this first health insurance campaign was a crucial moment in the creation of the American welfare state and health care system. Its defeat, she says, gave rise to an uneven and inegalitarian system of medical coverage and helped shape the limits of American social policy for the rest of the century. Hoffman examines each of the major combatants in the battle over compulsory health insurance. While physicians, employers, the insurance industry, and conservative politicians forged a uniquely powerful coalition in opposition to health insurance proposals, she shows, reformers' potential allies within women's organizations and the labor movement were bitterly divided. Against the backdrop of World War I and the Red Scare, opponents of reform denounced government-sponsored health insurance as "un-American" and, in the process, helped fashion a political culture that resists proposals for universal health care and a comprehensive welfare state even today.


Book Synopsis The Wages of Sickness by : Beatrix Hoffman

Download or read book The Wages of Sickness written by Beatrix Hoffman and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-06-19 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Clinton administration's failed health care reform was not the first attempt to establish government-sponsored medical coverage in the United States. From 1915 to 1920, Progressive reformers led a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful crusade for compulsory health insurance in New York State. Beatrix Hoffman argues that this first health insurance campaign was a crucial moment in the creation of the American welfare state and health care system. Its defeat, she says, gave rise to an uneven and inegalitarian system of medical coverage and helped shape the limits of American social policy for the rest of the century. Hoffman examines each of the major combatants in the battle over compulsory health insurance. While physicians, employers, the insurance industry, and conservative politicians forged a uniquely powerful coalition in opposition to health insurance proposals, she shows, reformers' potential allies within women's organizations and the labor movement were bitterly divided. Against the backdrop of World War I and the Red Scare, opponents of reform denounced government-sponsored health insurance as "un-American" and, in the process, helped fashion a political culture that resists proposals for universal health care and a comprehensive welfare state even today.

Remaking Policy

Remaking Policy

Author: Carolyn Hughes Tuohy

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2018-06-03

Total Pages: 740

ISBN-13: 1487515375

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One of the most persistent puzzles in comparative public policy concerns the conditions under which discontinuous policy change occurs. In Remaking Policy, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy advances an ambitious new approach to understanding the relationship between political context and policy change. Focusing on health care policy, Tuohy argues for a more nuanced conception of the dynamics of policy change, one that makes two key distinctions regarding the opportunities for change and the magnitude of such changes. Four possible strategies emerge: large-scale and fast-paced ("big bang"), large-scale and slow-paced ("blueprint"), small-scale and rapid ("mosaic"), and small-scale and gradual ("incremental"). As Tuohy demonstrates, these strategies are determined not by political and institutional conditions themselves, but by the ways in which political actors, individually and collectively, read those conditions to assess their prospects for success in the present and over time. Drawing on interviews as well as primary and secondary accounts of ten health policy cases over seven decades (1945—2015) in the US, UK, the Netherlands, and Canada, Remaking Policy represents a major advance in understanding the scale and pace of change in health policy and beyond.


Book Synopsis Remaking Policy by : Carolyn Hughes Tuohy

Download or read book Remaking Policy written by Carolyn Hughes Tuohy and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2018-06-03 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most persistent puzzles in comparative public policy concerns the conditions under which discontinuous policy change occurs. In Remaking Policy, Carolyn Hughes Tuohy advances an ambitious new approach to understanding the relationship between political context and policy change. Focusing on health care policy, Tuohy argues for a more nuanced conception of the dynamics of policy change, one that makes two key distinctions regarding the opportunities for change and the magnitude of such changes. Four possible strategies emerge: large-scale and fast-paced ("big bang"), large-scale and slow-paced ("blueprint"), small-scale and rapid ("mosaic"), and small-scale and gradual ("incremental"). As Tuohy demonstrates, these strategies are determined not by political and institutional conditions themselves, but by the ways in which political actors, individually and collectively, read those conditions to assess their prospects for success in the present and over time. Drawing on interviews as well as primary and secondary accounts of ten health policy cases over seven decades (1945—2015) in the US, UK, the Netherlands, and Canada, Remaking Policy represents a major advance in understanding the scale and pace of change in health policy and beyond.