The Case For Universal Health Care

With the exception of the United States, all developed nations provide their citizens with quality, affordable health care. And, despite its having expanded access through such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and the Affordable Care Act, nearly 20 million Americans still do not have health insurance. The cost of providing care in the United States will soon be unsustainable. It surely makes sense to consider an option that ensures health care is accessible to all its citizens and is fully funded regardless of vicissitudes in the national economy. This book is a must read for anyone concerned with the failure of the current system and looking for an alternative. Colton’s proposal for universal health care is thoroughly explained including: a description of services provided how we’ll pay for it how it is organized for delivery why it will save consumers money, and how it will ensure standards for quality and clinical effectiveness. “In this incisive and comprehensive book, David Colton take on the formidable task of explaining how America’s health care system works, why it fails in terms of cost, efficiency and quality of care and why it must be reformed... an invaluable resource ...” JILL QUADAGNO, Author, One Nation Uninsured: Why the US Has No National Health Insurance “...an excellent book, making a most unwieldy subject accessible and interesting to read. He deftly brings in pop culture, personal stories, and history in a way that brings this important public policy question come alive...” JULIE SALAMON, author, Hospital “A must read for anyone concerned about America’s health care system, especially those advocating for single-payor and “Medicare for All”... Highly recommended.” STEVEN A. MOSHER, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Health Care Administration

Srinath Reddy, Yasmine Rouai, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Cicely Thomas, Tana Wuliji, Snow Yang, Pascal Zurn

A powerful argument for a new health-care system.

This accessibly written book explains universal healthcare; the many forms it can take; and the issues, debates, and historical context underpinning the continued struggle for its implementation in the United States. Universal healthcare may be defined as any healthcare system that ensures at least basic coverage to most, if not all, citizens of a country. Although it may be implemented in many ways, universal healthcare has been widely accepted by international humanitarian organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) as the best way to ensure the universal human right to health. So why is the United States the only industrialized country without universal healthcare? What are the political, social, and economic factors that have prevented its successful introduction? Universal Healthcare explores what universal healthcare is, the many forms it can take—using examples from countries around the world—and the tumultuous history of attempts to implement a system of universal healthcare in the United States. Part II delves into the contentious issues and debates surrounding adoption of universal healthcare in the United States. Lastly, Part III provides a variety of useful materials, including case studies, a timeline of critical events, a glossary, and a directory of resources.

The book synthesizes the experiences from Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Peru, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam in implementing policies to achieve and sustain Universal Health Coverage. The study focuses on three aspects of UHC reforms: political economy, health financing, and human resources for health.

In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.

A Shared Destiny is the fourth in a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United States. This report examines how the quality, quantity, and scope of community health services can be adversely affected by having a large or growing uninsured population. It explores the overlapping financial and organizational basis of health services delivery to uninsured and insured populations, the effects of community uninsurance on access to health care locally, and the potential spillover effects on a community's economy and the health of its citizens. The committee believes it is both mistaken and dangerous to assume that the persistence of a sizable uninsured population in the United States harms only those who are uninsured.

Essential reading for every American who must navigate the US health care system. Why was the Obama health plan so controversial and difficult to understand? In this readable, entertaining, and substantive book, Stuart Altman—internationally recognized expert in health policy and adviser to five US presidents—and fellow health care specialist David Shactman explain not only the Obama health plan but also many of the intriguing stories in the hundred-year saga leading up to the landmark 2010 legislation. Blending political intrigue, policy substance, and good old-fashioned storytelling, this is the first book to place the Obama health plan within a historical perspective. The authors describe the sometimes haphazard, piece-by-piece construction of the nation’s health care system, from the early efforts of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to the later additions of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In each case, they examine the factors that led to success or failure, often by illuminating little-known political maneuvers that brought about immense shifts in policy or thwarted herculean efforts at reform. The authors look at key moments in health care history: the Hill–Burton Act in 1946, in which one determined poverty lawyer secured the rights of the uninsured poor to get hospital care; the "three-layer cake" strategy of powerful House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills to enact Medicare and Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson in 1965; the odd story of how Medicare catastrophic insurance was passed by Ronald Reagan in 1988 and then repealed because of public anger in 1989; and the fact that the largest and most expensive expansion of Medicare was enacted by George W. Bush in 2003. President Barack Obama is the protagonist in the climactic chapter, learning from the successes and failures chronicled throughout the narrative. The authors relate how, in the midst of a worldwide financial meltdown, Obama overcame seemingly impossible obstacles to accomplish what other presidents had tried and failed to achieve for nearly one hundred years.