Comparative health policy: an introduction -- The context of health care -- Funding, provision, and governance -- Setting priorities and allocating resources -- The medical profession -- Beyond the hospital: health care in the home -- Public health -- Understanding health policy comparatively

Recent data show wide disparity between Japan and the United States in the effectiveness of their health care systems. Japan spends close to the lowest percentage of its gross domestic product on health care among OECD countries, the United States spends the highest, yet life expectancies in...

The pivotal role of employer paid health insurance -- An alternate universe : life without the tax subsidy -- How to get there from here and also grow the economy -- Who might support or oppose our proposal? -- What else needs fixing? -- Pre-existing conditions and the individual mandate --...

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Foreword; Preface; Author; SECTION I: INDUSTRY DYSFUNCTION: ITS ROOT CAUSES AND EFFECTS; 1: It's Not the Future We Used to Have; The Old Future; The Curves of Health Care; The Root Causes of Industry Dysfunction; The Economic Human and the...

section 1. Introduction : setting the context -- section 2. Functional description of the U.S. health and medical care system -- section 3. Political and economic values and health care financing -- section 4. Health care reform in the United States : targeted programs and consequences.

Definitions of health and illness -- Public health : defining determinants of health -- Health status indicators -- Role of culture in the organization of health care systems -- Political and philosophical values that influence the US health care system -- Do we have as system? -- People who...