Good books on the current health care system in US?

[drlexygoat]

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Just wondering if anyone had any good suggestions to read.... I desperately need to bruch up on my HMO/PPO/etc. knowledge to prepare for interviews. Any ideas for great books?

 

[SarahGM]

I enjoyed Dr. George Lundberg's "Severed Trust."

 

[beastmaster]

No need for books, plenty of online resources, just do a search. If you do go book-hunting, just watch out for the authors that push socialized healthcare -- they will distort your perception of what the problem is because their agenda is to push that problem.

 

[bigbaubdi]

Originally posted by beastmaster
No need for books, plenty of online resources, just do a search. If you do go book-hunting, just watch out for the authors that push socialized healthcare -- they will distort your perception of what the problem is because their agenda is to push that problem.

Everyone has an agenda not just the people who advocate a national health care system

 

[AlternateSome1]

Classic Cases in Medical Ethics, 4th Ed. by Gregory E. Pence

The final section discusses the ethics of health care reform. The book as a whole is the best med ethics book I've read (of three). The author tries to remain impartial on most issues and discusses them from both sides.

~AS1~

 

[tidbit218]

Try Understanding Health Care Policy: A Clinical Policy by Bodenheimer. It's maybe a little outdated (I may not have read the latest version), but it was surprisingly readable, and he includes real and hypothetical patient stories to keep you interested. I enjoyed it. 🙂

Elizabeth

 

[AthanasiusJam]

bump

Good thread for those preparing for interviews.

I just got Severed Trust. So far it has been a good book but I feel its not going to cover both sides quite well (I've been going for market oriented solution when I answer questions about how to figure out health care). Any other books people have found?

Also found this from todays OpinionJournal.com's Political Diary, hope it adds a little to the other side of the debate:

Stealth Care II

News organizations must have read Tuesday's P.D. (or maybe they thought it up on their own) but the L.A. Times, ABC News and the PBS Newshour are suddenly all laboring to put health care at the top of the campaign agenda. Here's a modest rebuttal of some of the myths the media trafficked in this week:

MYTH: Solve the problem of the uninsured and you've solved the health care "crisis" (LA Times).

Wrong. Less "uncompensated" care might be shifted onto the insurance bills of paying customers if the government extended health insurance to 43 million uninsured, but we'd all pay for it in higher taxes. And once they have insurance, the uninsured would begin consuming more health care, leading to higher medical spending for the economy as whole.

MYTH: Managed care is the reason more accountants work at Duke University Medical Center than doctors and nurses (ABC News).

The tax code is the reason. There'd be similar armies of accountants in the grocery sector if every time you bought a carton of milk, you sent the bill to an insurance company. Each health-care transaction is a scrum of multiple parties because of an irresistible tax incentive to channel every expense through an insurance bureaucracy. And since neither the doctor nor patient have a stake in making sure spending is cost-efficient, that job falls to a distant paper-pusher in a managed care office.

MYTH: Employers use copays and deductibles to "shift" the cost of health care to employees (PBS Newshour, everybody).

Insurance is no freebie. It's one more form of compensation that employees receive for doing their jobs. That means workers themselves have the biggest stake in curbing the runaway health spending with copayments and the like: Rising productivity won't be translated into bigger paychecks if all the gains are eaten up by rising health insurance costs.

MYTH: "Special interests" are the reason we never make any progress on health care (ABC News).

Not since the Clinton task force has Congress been willing to even talk about the real problem, the middle-class tax giveaway that's the root engine of inefficient health-care spending. Meanwhile, thank goodness that organized interests are willing to push back when politicians start trying to redesign 15% of GDP based on sound bites and an applause meter.

The preceding was an educational service. We still think a recovering job picture and distrust of government will keep a majority of voters skittish about embracing health-care "reform," no matter how hard the media plugs for it.

 

[28129]

AthanasiusJam: Good post. I'm also a proponent of free market solutions. Much of the media debate about the "health care crisis" is laughable at best.

 

[jlee9531]

media debate may be laughable...

but 40+ million uninsured is not.

 

[28129]

but 40+ million uninsured is not.

Maybe they don't want insurance. A lot of people like to pay with cash.

 

[drlexygoat]

.

 

[atsai3]

I would second the recommendation for Bodenheimer's "Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach".

The 1st edition is a blue book on Appleton & Lange, but there is a new updated edition now.

Cheers
-AT.

 

[Mistress S]

Originally posted by ShantanuThakur
Maybe they don't want insurance. A lot of people like to pay with cash.

I hope this was intended as a joke...
Otherwise, it is one of the most idiotic statements I have read all year, and that's saying a lot in these days of Shrub & Co. If you really think that the >40 million uninsured in this country prefer it that way because they would rather pay for their health needs out of their trust fund, you are seriously out of touch and need to do some research into the state of healthcare in this country. I, for one, don't have health insurance, and I'd like some--as fun as it is to decide between groceries, rent, or doctor's bills. Your statement might be funny, if I wasn't confronted on a daily basis between friends, family, and the patients at the free clinic where I work with tragic examples of people faced with poverty, illness, and extremely limited options to deal with either problem. The ignorance abot the uninsured ill in this country, and lack of basic human compassion for them, is truly shocking on a board for aspiring doctors.

Oh, and for the OP: a book reccomendation for a historical persepective on how our current system arose (in sharp contrast to the single-payer systems that exist, with much better health care outcomes, in basically every other developed country in the world) is Paul Starr's "The Social Transformation of American Medicine".

 

[beastmaster]

If you really think that the 40 million uninsured in this country prefer it that way because they would rather pay for their health needs out of their trust fund, you are seriously out of touch and need to do some research into the state of healthcare in this country

Actually you're the one that needs to do some more research. Of the 40 million uninsured, only 10 million are below the poverty line or genuinely cannot afford it.

The rest (75%) choose to spend their money other ways. Boy, you people are sure brainwashed by that liberal garbage.

 

[beastmaster]

Originally posted by ShantanuThakur
I'm also a proponent of free market solutions. Much of the media debate about the "health care crisis" is laughable at best.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[hamburgers]

Managed Care Made Simple was helpful, short, easy and a quick read.

 

[28129]

I worked in the billing department of my Dad's office this summer. A good 15% of his patients pay with cash-only.

If you're old, you're covered by Medicare. If you're poor, or an invalid, Medicaid covers you. If you're anybody else, you can pay for your own healthcare. And if you don't want health insurance, then it's your right not to have any.

I always find it amusing how limosine liberals know what's best for the common man.

 

[Petitpois]

Originally posted by ShantanuThakur
I worked in the billing department of my Dad's office this summer. A good 15% of his patients pay with cash-only.

If you're old, you're covered by Medicare. If you're poor, or an invalid, Medicaid covers you. If you're anybody else, you can pay for your own healthcare. And if you don't want health insurance, then it's your right not to have any.

I always find it amusing how limosine liberals know what's best for the common man.

Could someone please explain to me how "anybody else" can pay for their own healthcare? You have to be very poor to be covered by Medicaid, so there are millions of Americans out there who work and MIGHT make enough to buy food and pay rent, but their employers don't provide health insurance! Would you encourage these people to quit work (as some do) just to qualify for Medicaid? Basically living destitute so that they can afford to receive necessary health care? And it may one thing to pay for a doctor's visit out-of-pocket, but what if they need prescription medication and specialists?

If the 43-4 million uninsured sound like a gross overestimate of people who are uninsured for circumstances beyond their control, what about the other 40+ million people underinsured, and the other millions who have insurance but can't afford copays?? Sorry, I'm just saying stuff that's already been said many times before, but it just really gets me a little upset to think that people could think our health care system is okay.

 

[28129]

I know a lot of Indians who came to this country penniless, with little knowledge of English, who worked their way up at gas stations, and 7-11's, and are now doing quite well for themselves. They always saw to it that their children had a decent education and healthcare.

Why can't Americans who are born in this country and have all the advantages that come with being a native do the same? ****, in this country, even most "poor" people can afford cars, televisions, microwaves, etc. Why can't they spend some of their money on healthcare? In my country, being poor means that you live in a straw hut and do backbreaking labor in 110 degree heat to earn $2 a day. The "poor" people in this country enjoy a better standard of living than most of my relatives back in India, so please excuse me if I have difficulty mustering crocodile tears for them.

Instead of bitching, maybe you ought to get a job. You want healthcare? Go work for it. You want healthcare for free? You'll have to pry my stethoscope from my cold dead hands 😛

 

[supersunny]

Originally posted by ShantanuThakur
I know a lot of Indians who came to this country penniless, with little knowledge of English, who worked their way up at gas stations, and 7-11's, and are now doing quite well for themselves. They always saw to it that their children had a decent education and healthcare.

Why can't Americans who are born in this country and have all the advantages that come with being a native do the same? ****, in this country, even most "poor" people can afford cars, televisions, microwaves, etc. Why can't they spend some of their money on healthcare? In my country, being poor means that you live in a straw hut and do backbreaking labor in 110 degree heat to earn $2 a day. The "poor" people in this country enjoy a better standard of living than most of my relatives back in India, so please excuse me if I have difficulty mustering crocodile tears for them.

Instead of bitching, maybe you ought to get a job. You want healthcare? Go work for it. You want healthcare for free? You'll have to pry my stethoscope from my cold dead hands 😛

of all your posts, i agree with this one most.

 

[mdforme]

I am shocked by the insensitivity displayed in some of the posts here. I imagine that those people who suggest "just get a job" have never been without healthcare, or realize the magnitude of the problem. I just hope that all this apathy is a product of a stressful day and not an indication of what our future physicians believe in.

 

[bpit]

Originally posted by SarahGM
I enjoyed Dr. George Lundberg's "Severed Trust."

Severed Trust is a great book. The book covers how we got to this point with the health care system. It also talks alot about how the doctor patient relationship has been eroded by the third party pay system. It is the first book I read that discussed the ethical obligation of physicians to treat the poor, and how this is almost nonexistent in our society. The book goes into some of the ethical problems that doctors face. I think it is a must read.

 

[beastmaster]

Originally posted by bpit
It is the first book I read that discussed the ethical obligation of physicians to treat the poor, and how this is almost nonexistent in our society. The book goes into some of the ethical problems that doctors face. I think it is a must read.

So long as the poor pay, then you are correct. Otherwise you are living in a fantasy world not governed by economic theory.

Newsflash: we live in a free society where no one is entitled to the services of another human being. You can't demand free healthcare. It's not a right, it's a service. A service with unlimited demand and limited supply. No amount of rhetoric from these liberal authors will change that. If you coerce a man into dishing it out for free or below value then supply will drop, and the ones who will suffer are the ones we tried to help in the first place (uninsured, poor, elderly).

 

[xadmin]

Yeah, the poor should go get a job. I don't want to pay for someone else health insurance. If they couldn't afford it, let them die. Save a lot of trouble and money. If you work hard enough, you will get where you wanted. No need for other to help you.

 

[AthanasiusJam]

Originally posted by irie
under the poverty level (approximately 11% of the US...)

71 million Americans without healthcare this year

U.S.A. Population: 245 871 000

.11 x usa pop = 27,045,810 under poverty level.

27/71x100=38% of people without healthcare genuinely cannot afford it

100-38=62% choose to pay cash or otherwise.

population: http://www.kesgrave.suffolk.sch.uk/.../snamerica.html

poverty level: a google link...lost it

americans without healthcare: lost that one too. wait, found it http://www.kwru.org/updates/kingmarchcall-intl.doc

Yea, KWRU.org is a pretty far left organization judging from the stuff I see on their website (They seem to take pride in getting arrested at rallies "Click here to read about our march at the RNC 2000 in Philadelphia, in which thousands risked arrest by marching without a permit." 🙄 ) so I wouldn't really trust any numbers you got from their website.

If you're not a weird radical (left or right) and you trust numbers from your government (Congressional Budget Office), here's the real deal:
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4211&sequence=0

The most interesting fact taken from the report (released last May) is that only 16% of those reported uninsured remain uninsured for a period of 2 years or more. It seems that the uninsurance rate is very similar to the unemployment rate in its transitory nature; it's more of a sign of people switching jobs than of people losing them.

The number of the more-or-less permanently uninsured (>2 years) ends up working out to be some 9 million people.

This represents mainly

1. single people who, for instance, are career waitresses and are not covered by a spouse, but who make enough income to not be eligible for medicaid,
2. people who are judged uninsurable (contracted a terminal illness for instance)
3. people engaged in criminal activity who are too messed up to apply for medicaid (prostitutes, drugdealers, pimps, etc.)
   [/list=1]
   
   Do all these people deserve to be insured? I'm not sure. Many of these people are young and tend to be healthy. There's also the question of lifestyle choices (I really don't like the idea of me paying for the lung transplant of some chronic smoker who couldn't respect their own bodies enough to keep from damaging them--and blowing off tens of thousands of dollars that could've gone to their medical bills.)
   
   I personally lean towards the market solution but I still have much to learn on my own. That's why I read things like Severed Trust.🙂

 

[AthanasiusJam]

bump...not gonna let this die just after I did all that research