Health Care Meltdown:
Confronting the Myths and Fixing Our Failing System, 2nd Edition Robert H. LeBow, C. Rocky
White, MD
Softcover: 352 pages
ISBN 0911469303
978-0911469301
Hood, Alan C. & Company
August 2007 (click the button below for the very best currently available price for
this important title)
It is no secret that health care in the
United States is managed by a confusing welter of institutions,
regulations, corporations and government agencies. Paperwork is
rampant at every level, and much time and money are wasted while
millions of people go without needed medical attention. For this
"system" the U.S. spends about twice as much per capita as most
developed countries.
In this book, Dr. Bob LeBow tackles this
monumental issue with clarity and forthrightness. His prescription
for our health care quagmire is a national health program which
includes universal coverage, as is the case in every other
industrialized country.
“A necessary acquisition for all
libraries.” - Starred review, Library Journal
“A timely book for the present and future problems facing the health
care system in the US… Recommended.” - Choice, a publication of
the American Library Association.
Almost five years after the original publication of Dr. Lebow's
authoritative dissection of America's health care "system", the
situation has in many ways deteriorated. More Americans lack any
health insurance, costs continue to increase faster than income, and
increasing complexity is overwhelming everyone involved.
In revising this book, Dr. C. Rocky
White has included recent developments in the field, and updated the
relevant statistics. The bibliography has been expanded to include
recently published articles, books and government documents. For the
most part, however, Dr. LeBow's newest edition has proved to be as
timely now as it was upon initial publication. Take a look at all
the topics covered in this interesting book:
Confronting the Myths: Can America
Halt the Slide Toward Health Care Meltdown?
Our Poor Performance and Perverse
Incentives
The Search for a Comprehensive
Solution
Getting America Clued In
"One Risk Pool"/ National Health
Insurance
The Problem A Wasteful,
Dysfunctional System and a Nation Kept Clueless
Myths, Misinformation, and the
Pursuit of Profit 13
A Myriad of Myths
Myth #1 Everybody Has Access
to Care Through the Emergency Room
Myth #2 We Don't Need to Fix
What's Not Broken
Myth #3 "The Market" Is the
Solution
Myth #4 Private Is Always
Better than Public
Myth #5 Medicare Is Going
Broke
Myth #6 We Can't Afford
Universal Coverage
Myth #7 Americans Don't Want
Rationing of Health Care
Myth #8 We Don't Want
Socialized Medicine Like in Canada
Myth #9 The Insured Pay More
To Help Cover the Costs of the Uninsured
Myth #10 Universal Coverage
Will Overburden Our System
Myth #11 Costs of Research
and Development Drive Our Higher Drug Prices
Myth #12 We Can Get to
Universal Coverage Through Incremental Changes
America's Health Care: The
Monster We Have Created
Managed Care vs. Managed
Cost: "Crazy Making"
Unrealistic Expectations
Ignorance of the Costs
The Paperwork Nightmare
Fraud and Abuse
The Paperwork Could Get
Worse
Underutilization/Overutilization
Monster II: Perverse Incentives
Lead to Bizarre Outcomes
There's "Gold in Them 'Thar'
Patients"
Creating the Demand: The
Sky's the Limit
The Ultimate
Overutilization: "Boutique Medicine" for the Very Rich
Opting Out: An American
Privilege?
Competition vs. Cooperation
Prevention vs. Cure
The Malpractice Conundrum
Employer-Based Insurance: An
Anomaly
More Perverse Incentives for
Providers and Patients Alike
The Mental Health Scam
The Patient Comes Last
The Market vs. the Patient
Delayed Care: Rationing American
Style
The Mantra of "Personal
Responsibility"
Some Terrible Consequences
of Delayed Care
Jumping Hoops for the Uninsured:
Caring for Patients at a Community Health Center
Why They Don't Come In
The Medical Visit,
Prescriptions, and Tests: Games We Play
A Patchwork of Arrangements
to Get Care
Why Do Our Patients Think We
Don't Have Universal Coverage?
The Positive Side of Working
With the Uninsured
Squeezing the Patient: Co-Pays
and Deductibles
Why Do Physicians Support
Co-Pays?
Co-Pays That Hurt
The "Safety Net" and Co-Pays
The Larger Picture
Religion and Health Care Reform:
"Personal Responsibility" vs. Caring for the Needy
How "The Market" Has
Overridden Religion
The Role of "Personal
Responsibility"
Free Clinics and WWJD
Health Care as a Human Right
in the U.S.?
Public Health: We're All on This
Planet Together
Public Health and Chronic
Disease
The New Twist to Wake Us Up:
Bioterrorism
Blaming the Victim: A Bad Rap
for Medicare
Medicare as the Victim
Expanding and Improving
Medicare
We Don't Want a Health Care
System Like They Have in Those Foreign Countries
Americans are Clueless on
What Happens
In Other Countries
Our Much-Maligned Neighbor
to the North
Our Ranking in the World
Towards Finding a Solution
The Price of Health: How Much
Should We Americans Be Spending on Health Care?
The "Good Old Days" Are Over
Costs Are Going Up, Up, Up
Ethics--and Profits vs.
Patients
"Expecting the World"
The Future, Technology, and
Costs
The Answer Needs to Come
From the People
Don Quixote vs. the
Establishment: Can the Medical-Industrial Complex Be
Toppled?
"The Evil Empire": How Bad
Is It?
Toppling the Windmills
Appealing to
Self-Interest--Does It Have a Chance?
The Drug Barons
The Camelots of Health Care
The Lords of Medicine
Tilting at Windmills From
Beyond the Medical Establishment
In Search of a "Uniquely
American" Solution to Health Care for All
Universal Uninsurance
What About Poor Folks?
Charity Care to the Rescue
Potential Obstacles to
Universal Uninsurance
The Sad Truth: Fantasy May
Resemble Reality
Grassroots for Health Care for
All: What Can Americans Do to Claim a Right to Health Care?
Timing and the Changing
Battlefield
Groups, Old and New,
Promoting Health Care for All
The Community-Based Efforts
More Talk, Less Progress?
What Specific Actions Steps
Will It Take to Motivate Grassroots America?
National Health Insurance or
Medicare for All: A Reality in Our Lifetime?
It's Become Fashionable to
Talk About Universal Coverage
Why Don't the People Who
Know Better Do Something?
The Naysayers' Logic
"Single Payer Will Not Fly": A
Response
Does "Incremental" Have a
Chance?
How About Affordability for
the Patient?
"Best" vs. "Better": In
Search of Value for Our Money
Needed for Affordable and
Effective Health Care Reform in America: A Paradigm Shift
for Prevention
A Prime Example: America's
Epidemic of Obesity
What Are the Side Effects of
Making Exercise "Mainstream"?
Action Steps to "Put
Prevention Into America"
Epilogue: Beyond Universal
Coverage
Assuring Adequate Coverage
Reclaiming Dignity
Keeping America Clueless
The Global Picture
Steps We Must Take as a
Responsible Nation to Improve the Health of Our
Communities
Glossary of Terms
Softcover: 352 pages
ISBN 0911469303
978-0911469301
Hood, Alan C. & Company
August 2007 (click the button below for the very best currently available price for
this important title)
Dr. Bob Lebow has dedicated his entire
life to practicing medicine, serving indigent patients, and fighting
for single-payer health care. Before his cycling accident in the
summer of 2002, Dr. LeBow was a family practitioner (including
obstetrics) and was also board certified in general preventive
medicine. Since 1972 he had been Medical Director of Terry-Reilly
Health Centers, a group of community health centers in southwest
Idaho that served a largely low-income, Hispanic population. He was
the first man to cycle across Tibet; a Peace Corps physician in
Bolivia, and has worked in over 20 countries worldwide, helping to
develop primary care health systems.
Dr. LeBow was one of the authors of
Idaho's 1992 single-payer legislation, and has run for the Idaho
state legislature three times. He is a prolific writer with frequent
essays on the need for universal coverage. He currently resides in
Philadelphia with his family where he is recovering from his
life-changing injuries.
