Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis

Softcover: 240 pages
ISBN 0312561644
978-0312561642
St. Martin's Griffin
August 2009
(click button below to view the very best currently available price for this important resource)

Hardbound: 240 pages
ISBN 0312383010
978-0312383015
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press
February 2008
(click button below to view the very best currently available price for this important resource)

Everybody seems to agree that the American health care system is broken. Achieving a consensus on how to fix it, however, is not so easy. In this straightforward policy guide, former U.S. Senate majority leader Tom Daschle offers specific measures that can address the economic and political complexity of the health care issue as well as the power of the interest groups involved.

“The American health-care system is in crisis, and workable solutions have been blocked for years by deeply entrenched ideological divisions. Sen. Daschle brings fresh thinking to this problem, and his Federal Reserve for Health concept holds great promise for bridging this intellectual chasm and, at long last, giving this nation the health care it deserves.” —President Barack Obama

This book offers a much-needed and hard-hitting plan, from one of the great Democratic minds of our time, to reform America’s broken health-care system.

Undoubtedly, the biggest domestic policy issue in the coming years will be America’s health-care system. Millions of Americans go without medical care because they can’t afford it, and many others are mired in debt because they can’t pay their medical bills. It’s hard to think of another public policy problem that has lingered unaddressed for so long. Why have we failed to solve a problem that is such a high priority for so many citizens?

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle believes the problem is rooted in the complexity of the health-care issue and the power of the interest groups — doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug companies, researchers, patient advocates — that have a direct stake in it.

Rather than simply pointing out the major flaws and placing blame, Daschle offers key solutions and creates a blueprint for solving the crisis.

Daschle’s solution lies in the Federal Reserve Board, which has overseen the equally complicated financial system with great success. A Fed-like health board would offer a public framework within which a private health-care system can operate more effectively and efficiently — insulated from political pressure yet accountable to elected officials and the American people. Daschle argues that this independent board would create a single standard of care and exert tremendous influence on every other provider and payer, even those in the private sector.

Before exploring my idea in detail, it’s worthwhile to review the current state of affairs. By almost any measure, the situation is grim. We like to boast that we have the highest standard of living in the world, and yet at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we are the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens. It is stunning and shameful. There are about 47 million Americans without health insurance, and researchers have estimated that about four-fifths of them are either employed or members of a family with an employed adult.

Americans with solid, employer-based insurance may believe they are secure, but in our health-care system everyone is just a pink slip, a divorce, or a major illness away from financial disaster. A 2005 study on the link between medical costs and bankruptcy found that “even brief lapses in insurance coverage may be ruinous and should not be viewed as benign,” and that even people with insurance can be forced into bankruptcy by high medical bills, because “many health insurance policies prove to be too skimpy in the face of serious illness.” Medical debt affects health, families’ economic security, and even their jobs.

After decades of failed incremental measures, the American health-care system remains fundamentally broken and requires a comprehensive fix. With his bold and forward-looking plan, Daschle points us to the solution.

“Senator Daschle and I agree on the need for nonpartisanship in coming to grips with this number one domestic problem.” —Bob Dole, former Senate majority leader

“This book provides real solutions for America’s broken health care system.” —Senator Harry Reid (NV), Senate majority leader

“Critical provides answers to one of the most vexing challenges of our time.” —John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and a former White House chief of staff

“It is a must-read.” —Jerome H. Grossman M.D., senior fellow and director of the Health Care Delivery Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government

“Senator Daschle adds to his reputation as a clear thinker and leader. Critical shows us not only why we must solve our health care crisis but that—with political will—we can.” —Judy Feder, professor and dean at Georgetown Public Policy Institute

Tom Daschle is a former U.S. Senator and Senate majority leader from South Dakota. He is currently a special policy advisor at the law firm Alston & Bird LLP, a visiting professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Jeanne M. Lambrew is an associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Dr. Lambrew is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Previously, she worked on health policy at the White House as the program associate director for health at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and as the senior health analyst at the National Economic Council.

Scott S. Greenberger, a former staff reporter at The Boston Globe, is a writer and consultant at Ricchetti, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

"The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens, and as former senator Daschle observes, Skeptics say we can't afford to cover everyone; the truth is that we can't afford not to because U.S. economic competitiveness is being impeded by the large uninsured population and fast-rising health costs. Daschle's book delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage, outlines the complex economic factors and medical issues affecting coverage and sets forth plans for change. Daschle proposes creating a Federal Health Board, similar to the Federal Reserve System, whose structure, functions and enforcement capability would be largely insulated from the politics and passion of the moment, in addition to a merging of employers' plans, Medicaid and Medicare with an expanded FEHBP (Federal Employee Health Benefits Program) that would cover everyone. There is no more important issue facing our country, Daschle asserts, than reform of our health-care system, and the book's health-care horror stories bring this immediacy home." - Publishers Weekly

(information from the publisher)

You may also be interested in / The Directory of Healthcare Recruiters /

Jump to a Book List / Health Administration & Leadership / Physician Executive, Medical Staff & Practice Management / Finance, Accounting, Economics, Billing & Reimbursement / Coding for Hospital, Physician & Clinical Services / Law, Malpractice, Ethics, Accreditation & Compliance / Quality Improvement, Outcomes & Customer Service / Risk Management, Security, Error Reduction & Patient Safety / Information Systems, Technology & Medical Records / Clinical Management & Executive Nursing / Behavioral Health, Social Work & Psychiatry Management / Human Resources, Management & Supervision / Directories, Data, Trends & Benchmarks / Software & CD-ROMs / Gift Ideas / Journals, Magazines & Newsletters / Search for Books / Books Index /

Go to / Home Page / Toolbox for Health Administrators / Bookstore