This book provides an in-depth evaluation of the U.S. health care system's development in the twentieth century. It shows how a unique economic design - the insurance company model - came to dominate health care, bringing with it high costs; corporate medicine; and fragmented, poorly distributed care.

Abstract: An authoritative text for health policy makers and health historians presents a comprehensive and comprehensible review of the American Medical Association (AMA) activities and interactions with health promotion and US health policy from 1940 to the present. The 23 text chapters are focused in 4 principal areas. The first area addresses the changing US medical care system, medical and surgical breakthroughs, and the major move towards the development of medical specialization fields, defining the changing environment in US health brought about by medical advances and an increased attention in US policy over the past 44 years. The second area describes the role and functions of the AMA. Most of the text addresses the third area, covering significant events in medical policy and costs. The final section discusses the interactions of the AMA with medical education, medical science, and medical care today. Information on the "physician masterfile", AMA's response to the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE), interviews conducted to develop the text material, and a listing of AMA chairmen and presidents, are appended. (wz).

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

First published in 2002. An American Health Dilemma is the story of medicine in the United States from the perspective of people who were consistently, officially mistreated, abused, or neglected by the Western medical tradition and the US health-care system. It is also the compelling story of African Americans fighting to participate fully in the health-care professions in the face of racism and the increased power of health corporations and HMOs. This tour-de-force of research on the relationship between race, medicine, and health care in the United States is an extraordinary achievement by two of the leading lights in the field of public health. Ten years out, it is finally updated, with a new third volume taking the story up to the present and beyond, remaining the premiere and only reference on black public health and the history of African American medicine on the market today. No one who is concerned with American race relations, with access to and quality of health care, or with justice and equality for humankind can afford to miss this powerful resource.

The United States is unique among economically advanced nations in its reliance on employers to provide health benefits voluntarily for workers and their families. Although it is well known that this system fails to reach millions of these individuals as well as others who have no connection to the work place, the system has other weaknesses. It also has many advantages. Because most proposals for health care reform assume some continued role for employers, this book makes an important contribution by describing the strength and limitations of the current system of employment-based health benefits. It provides the data and analysis needed to understand the historical, social, and economic dynamics that have shaped present-day arrangements and outlines what might be done to overcome some of the access, value, and equity problems associated with current employer, insurer, and government policies and practices. Health insurance terminology is often perplexing, and this volume defines essential concepts clearly and carefully. Using an array of primary sources, it provides a store of information on who is covered for what services at what costs, on how programs vary by employer size and industry, and on what governments doâ€"and do not doâ€"to oversee employment-based health programs. A case study adapted from real organizations' experiences illustrates some of the practical challenges in designing, managing, and revising benefit programs. The sometimes unintended and unwanted consequences of employer practices for workers and health care providers are explored. Understanding the concepts of risk, biased risk selection, and risk segmentation is fundamental to sound health care reform. This volume thoroughly examines these key concepts and how they complicate efforts to achieve efficiency and equity in health coverage and health care. With health care reform at the forefront of public attention, this volume will be important to policymakers and regulators, employee benefit managers and other executives, trade associations, and decisionmakers in the health insurance industry, as well as analysts, researchers, and students of health policy.

Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of how the entire American health care system of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs has evolved over the last two centuries. "The definitive social history of the medical profession in America....A monumental achievement."—H. Jack Geiger, M.D., New York Times Book Review

Along the way, he explores questions about the acquisition, control, and loss of political and economic power in a book that provides an essential perspective on the politics and law behind health policy in the United States."--BOOK JACKET.