Who is Wendell Potter

A Second Opinion: Rescuing America's Health Care

by: Dr. Arnold Relman

From Publishers Weekly:

Relman, a professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, offers his diagnosis of what has gone wrong with American health care, along with a radical solution. In clear, eloquent prose, Relman explains how the rush to commercialize medicine harms both physicians and patients. Contrary to free-market dogma, Relman asserts, in medecine the profit imperative "increases costs; it may also jeopardize quality or aggravate the system's inequity." Relman's proposal: a single-payer insurance program supported by an earmarked, progressive health care tax, coupled with a reformed delivery system in which all hospitals would be not-for-profit and most physicians would be salaried employees of not-for-profit prepaid group practices. Relman acknowledges that today's political reality doesn't favor his program. Instead, it is fueling the drive for so-called consumer-driven health care (CDHC); in theory, by forcing consumers to pay for their own health care (for example, through high-deductible catastrophic insurance), CDHC promotes more prudent choices. But Relman calls CDHC "an illusion that bears little resemblance to the realities" for seriously ill patients.. He predicts that in a decade or so, when CDHC has failed to solve the health care crisis, the country may be ready to try his plan. (May 23)

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Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis---and the People Who Pay the Price

by: Jonathan Cohn

From Publishers Weekly:

In this addition to the growing list of exposés of the toll our patchwork, profit-based health-care system takes on Americans, Cohn makes a plea for a universal coverage with a single-payer system regulated by the government. Drawing on research and riveting anecdotes, Cohn, a senior editor at the New Republic, describes how private insurers decide who and what they will-and will not-cover. He also examines how rising health-care costs lead corporations to seek ways to deny coverage to employees, such as hiring full-time workers as temps or independent contractors without health insurance. In tale after tale, Cohn documents the sometimes catastrophic results. they couldn't. Cohn points out that managed care initially had an altruistic goal of making health-care affordable for all. But by 1997, two-thirds of HMOs were controlled by for-profit companies concerned with making money rather than preventing and easing sickness. The author convincingly argues that Medicare and universal health care in such countries as France, though not perfect, are far superior to the system most Americans face. Much of this is well-trod territory, but Cohn is eloquent, and he's good at using case studies to dramatize and explain complex issues. (Apr. 10)

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Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business--and Bad Medicine

by: Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

From Publishers Weekly:
Bestselling investigative journalists Barlett and Steele (America: What Went Wrong?) deliver a devastating indictment, supported by excellent research, of a health-care system that they say is failing to provide first-rate services to its citizens, 44 million of whom are without insurance. According to these Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters, now with Time magazine, the U.S. compares poorly with other Westernized nations in delivering quality care and a healthy life expectancy, and preventing infant mortality. Per capita health-care spending continues to exceed the amount spent by many other countries, the authors say, because one out of every three U.S. dollars pays for administrative costs. The authors also present case histories of patients, some with life-threatening conditions, who were ignored by bureaucratic HMOs that put profit first. Barlett and Steele describe how health care first became driven by profits on Wall Street during the Reagan administration. Competing insurance plans, they say, led not to better choices for consumers, but to physicians who are prevented by insurers from prescribing needed treatments; a severe shortage of nurses; and unsafe hospitals where staff shortages and unsanitary conditions result from cost-cutting. The authors, who strongly advocate a single payer plan, successfully depict a health-care system in crisis.

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10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care

Product Description:

As the number of uninsured Americans reaches epic numbers, here's a concise and convincing guide that explains why national health care is the only approach that makes sense.

"Health care is not just another commodity. It is not a gift to be rationed based on the ability to pay."-Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)

The United States spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 46 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.

Imagine a health care program that is publicly funded and covers all basic medical services from doctor visits, hospitalization, and long-term care to prescription drugs, dental care, and mental health. 10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care offers an array of powerful arguments for why and how this could become a reality. With fact-filled chapters written by leading physicians, health care professionals, policy makers, business-people, labor organizers, and others, this book shows how a national health care system is simpler, more inclusive, saves money, is good for business, will reduce health care disparities, and is a fundamental human right.

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Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System--and How to Heal It (A Columbia / SSRC Book (Privatization of Risk))

Review:

"A great resource for understanding the development, problems, and possible solutions to health care in the US." -- Choice.

Product Description:

In this volume, the nation's leading advisors on health policy and financing appraise America's ailing healthcare system and suggest reasonable approaches to its rehabilitation. Each chapter confronts a major challenge to the country's health security, from runaway costs and uneven quality of care to declining levels of insurance coverage, medical bankruptcy, and the growing enthusiasm for health plans that put patients in charge of risk and cost. Bringing the latest research to bear on these issues, contributors diagnose the problems of our present system and offer treatments grounded in extensive experience. Free of bias and rhetoric, Health at Risk is an invaluable tool for those who are concerned with the current state of healthcare and are eager to effect change

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