One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance

by Jill Quadagno

Overview

Every industrial nation in the world guarantees its citizens access to essential health care services—every country, that is, except the United States. In fact, one in eight Americans—a shocking 43 million people—do not have any health care insurance at all.
One Nation, Uninsured offers a vividly written history of America's failed efforts to address the health care needs of its citizens. Covering the entire twentieth century, Jill Quadagno shows how each attempt to enact national health insurance was met with fierce attacks by powerful stakeholders, who mobilized their considerable resources to keep the financing of health care out of the government's hands. Quadagno describes how at first physicians led the anti-reform coalition, fearful that government entry would mean government control of the lucrative private health care market. Doctors lobbied legislators, influenced elections by giving large campaign contributions to sympathetic candidates, and organized "grassroots" protests, conspiring with other like-minded groups to defeat reform efforts. As the success of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-century led physicians and the AMA to start scaling back their attacks, the insurance industry began assuming a leading role against reform that continues to this day.
One Nation, Uninsured offers a sweeping history of the battles over health care. It is an invaluable read for anyone who has a stake in the future of America's health care system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195312034
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/09/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.26(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Jill Quadagno is the Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar in Social Gerontology and Professor of Sociology at Florida State University. A past president of the American Sociological Association, she served as Senior Policy Advisor on the President's Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform in 1994.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1. Doctors' Politics and the Red Menace
2. Organized Labor's Health Benefits
3. Provider Sovereignty and Civil Rights
4. Don't Rock the Boat
5. Cost Containment versus National Health Insurance
6. The Revolt of the Corporate Purchaser
7. The Insurers Triumphant
8. Why the United States Has No National Health Insurance and What Can Be Done About It
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Briskly written...an excellent primer for anybody interested in picking up the reform banner today.... Fresh, engaging."—Jonathan Cohn, Washington Post Book World

"A strongly argued account that provides useful ammunition for anyone seeking to effect change in a medical system that willfully excludes so many who need it."—Kirkus Reviews

"An important book. Jill Quadagno provides an impressive array of historical evidence to advance original arguments for why the United States lacks a comprehensive health care system and why health insurance should be viewed as a social right. This book is must reading for those concerned about health care reform in the United States." —William Julius Wilson, author of When Work Disappears

"Readable and engaging.... Some of the most interesting portions come from Quadagno's own archival searches and her interviews with people who lived the history that she describes.... Quadagno's sustained focus on interest-group politics seems right on target."—New England Journal of Medicine

"Jill Quadagno has produced the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the power and effectiveness of interest groups in defeating a century of national health insurance reform campaigns. An impressive combination of theory and historical research, One Nation, Uninsured sets the parameters for the next round of debate over why the U.S. remains the only country without universal health insurance and how it might still expand access while reigning in costs." —Lawrence R. Jacobs, McKnight Land Grant Professor, University of Minnesota

"A chilling historical account of how powerful groups with self-serving financial interests have successfully blocked attempts to enact national health insurance for seven decades, leaving tens of millions of our citizens without adequate health care coverage and often without even minimal care. Anyone eager to seek reform of our badly fragmented health care system must study its lessons and its blueprint for action; a task that will require nearly unprecedented political skills and monumental organizational prowess." —Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., author of On The Take: How Medicine's Complicity With Big Business Can Endanger Your Health

"Quadagno, a distinguished sociologist with a long-standing interest in policy, explores a century of government attempts to create universal health care and the powerful forces that have defeated those attempts.... Her sociological insights illuminate a path to reform."—Judy Goldstein Botello, The San Diego Union-Tribune

"A sweeping and detailed account of the U.S. health insurance system's development during the 20th century. ...One Nation Uninsured is a clearly written, informative book that would be of interest to academics studying health care, politics, policy or U.S. history, and members of the lay public who want a better understanding of why the United States does not have universal health insurance. It would also be accessible to students, particularly those in advanced undergraduate courses or graduate seminars."—Social Forces

From the Publisher