medical care, cost of

Presents an expose of health care in America, arguing that the system, which was once largely not-for-profit, has become a field controlled by profit motive and market forces, discussing the disparity in levels of care and costs, looking at the millions who are without insurance or are underinsured, and calling for an end to market-based medicine.

"Vivian S. Lee, MD, [examines] the health care crisis, [positing that] the problem with the way medicine is practiced ... is not so much who's paying, it's what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better--and that is both backward and dangerous. Dr. Lee proposes turning the way we receive care completely inside out"--.

Presents arguments on both sides of the debate over universal health care and whether or not it's a good idea for society.

Includes a wide range of opinions surrounding issues concerning The Affordable Care Act.

The failure of America's medical system, as seen through the stories of the people who engineered the current health care revolution and those who have suffered from it. Every day, millions of Americans find themselves struggling to find affordable medical care for themselves and their families. It is a problem unique to the United States, the only country in the developed world that does not guarantee access to medical care as a right of citizenship. It is also a problem that is about to get worse. The American health insurance system, first created in the 1930s, is collapsing. Unless somebody decides to build a new system in its place, millions more Americans will suffer. Combining the real-life stories of ordinary people across the country with original reporting from Washington, this book explains why this transformation is taking place--and the consequences that could someday befall all of us.--From publisher description.

Examines current medical care in the United States focusing on people with inadequate coverage, unclean clinics and operating rooms, shrinking benefits, and health industries which are unable to solve the problems.

Photographs, illustrations, and text show how our present health care system evolved and what is now available to American citizens. Various proposals for reform are considered.

Shep Knacker, having saved for years to retire to a Tanzanian island where he could live on his nest egg for the rest of his life, is stunned when his wife Glynis announces she has a rare form of cancer and needs his insurance, and while the mounting bills cut deeply into his savings, he is buoyed by rants against the health care system by his friend Jackson who is caring for a sick child.