Debates on U.S. Health Care

by Jennie Kronenfeld (Editor), Wendy E. Parmet (Editor), Mark A. Zezza (Editor)

Overview

This issues-based reference work (available in both print and electronic formats) shines a spotlight on health care policy and practice in the United States. Impassioned debates about the best solutions to health care in America have perennially erupted among politicians, scholars of public policy, medical professionals, and the general public. The fight over the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 brought to light a multitude of fears, challenges, obstacles, and passions that often had the effect of complicating rather than clarifying the debate. The discourse has never been more heated. The complex issues that animate the health care debate have forced the American public to grapple with the exigencies of the present system with regard to economic, fiscal, and monetary policy, especially as they relate to philosophical, often ideologically driven approaches to the problem. Americans have also had to examine their ideas about the relationship of the individual to and interaction with the state and the varied social and cultural beliefs about what an American solution to the problem of health care looks like. In light of the need to keep students, researchers, and other interested readers informed and up-to-date on the issues surrounding health care in the U.S., this volume uses introductory essays followed by point/counterpoint articles to explore prominent and perennially important debates, providing readers with views on multiple sides of this complex issue.

Features&Benefits:

• The volume is divided into three sections, each with its own Section Editor: Quality of Care Debates (Dr. Jennie Kronenfeld), Economic&Fiscal Debates (Dr. Mark Zezza), and Political, Philosophical,&Legal Debates (Prof. Wendy Parmet).
• Sections open with a Preface by the Section Editor to introduce the broad theme at hand and provide historical underpinnings.
• Each Section holds 12 chapters addressing varied aspects of the broad theme of the section.
• Chapters open with an objective, lead-in piece (or "headnote") followed by a point article and a counterpoint article.
• All pieces (headnote, point article, counterpoint article) are signed.
• For each chapter, students are referred to further readings, data sources, and other resources as a jumping-off spot for further research and more in-depth exploration.
• Finally, the volume concludes with a comprehensive index, and the electronic version of the book includes search-and-browse features, as well as the ability to link to further readings cited within chapters should they be available to the library in electronic format.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781483306063
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	09/06/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	592
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld is a professor in the Sociology Program in the School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University. Her research areas are medical sociology and aging and the life course with a special focus on health policy, health care utilization, and health behavior. She has recently published Medicare by Greenwood Press (2011) and serves as the editor of the research annual Research in the Sociology of Health and Health Care published each year by Emerald Press. She is co-editor of Health and Associate Editor In Chief of American Journal of Health Promotion. Her current research interests in addition to health policy include research on gender and health, and research on aspects of obesity as linked to social factors.

Wendy E. Parmet is George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Northeastern University School of Law, where she is also Director of the Program on Health Policy and Law. She is the author of Populations, Public Health, and the Law, published by Georgetown University Press in 2009 and with Professor Patricia Illingworth, Ethical Health Care, published by Prentice Hall in 2005, as well as numerous articles in medical, legal, and public policy journals on public health law, health care access, bioethics, and disability law. Professor Parmet has served as counsel on several major court cases involving health care access. She received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA from Cornell University.

Mark A. Zezza, PhD, currently works at the Commonwealth Fund as a Senior Policy Analyst. His main issues of interest relate to payment and delivery system reform, with a focus on the development of accountable care organizations. Dr. Zezza joined the Commonwealth Fund from the Engelberg Center for Healthcare Reform at the Brookings Institution, where he managed projects evaluating and providing implementation support to health-reform initiatives on accountability payment models, health information technology, and quality measurements. Prior to Brookings, Dr. Zezza was Associate Director at the Lewin Group, working as a member of the State Healthcare Reform team to analyze the economic and coverage effects of various reform proposals. From July 1999 through 2006, Dr. Zezza worked at the Centers for Medicare&Medicaid Services analyzing and helping to operationalize various Medicare payment systems. He holds a BS in Math and Psychology from Dickinson College, an MA in Economic Policy Analysis from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a PhD in Public Policy from the same institution.

Table of Contents

Philosophical, Political, and Legal Debates Introduction
Foundational Debates
Moral Significance of Health Care
Health Care and Human Health
Health Care as a Human Right
Individual Responsibility for Health
The Role of the Market in Health Care
Racial Disparities in Health Status and Accessing Health Care
Single-Payer Health Care System
Health Care Reform Debates
Public Opinion and Health Care Reform
States′ Rights and Health Care Reform
Liberty and the Individual Mandate
Federal Authority Over the Individual Mandate
Underserved Communities and Health Care Reform
Abortion and Reproductive Health Services
Reforming Medical Malpractice Liability
Economic and Fiscal Debates Introduction
Expanding Coverage
Individual Mandate
Insurance Regulation
Insurance Exchanges
Employer Mandate
Paying for Reform and Bending the Cost Curve
Deficit Reduction
Tax Treatment of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
Taxing High-Cost (Cadillac) Plans
Price Transparency
Accountable Care Organizations
Independent Payments Advisory Board
Medicare Negotiation of Drug Pricing
Medicaid Program Flexibility
Quality Debates Introduction
Providers and Quality
Primary Care
Nurse Practitioners and Physicians′ Assistants
Female Physicians
Ethnic Background of Physicians and Patients
Home Care
Treatment Methods and Quality
Centralized Versus Decentralized Control
Comparative Effectiveness Research
Information Technology Adoption
Cost and Quality
Medicare Benefit Cuts
High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Carole A. Kenner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, ANEF (The College of New Jersey)
Description: The point-counterpoint format this book uses lends itself well to the debates about U.S. healthcare reform and its impact on the health of the nation. The focus is on the philosophical, political, legal/ethical, economic/fiscal, and quality of care debates surrounding healthcare reform.
Purpose: The book challenges readers to understand and/or examine the underpinnings of the healthcare debates that were spawned by the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Coupled with the examination of these topics is the notion that readers need to consider the impact of these arguments/underpinnings on healthcare delivery.
Audience: Although not defined by the authors, the audience appears to be any students/professionals who are interested in studying two opposing views of all facets of healthcare reform.
Features: The book moves from the traditional topics of definitions and debates about whether healthcare is an individual right (with accountability at the individual level) or a societal obligation. It then moves to healthcare reform, viewed from an individual, state, or federal level. The next sections cover the fiscal responsibility of the stakeholders — individual consumers, payors, health professionals, delivery systems — especially in terms of transparency in pricing of services. The last section gets at the heart of what quality of care is — primary care versus disease management; the type of provider, including nurses; treatment modes and settings; the need for comparative effectiveness research; and, finally, Medicare and high-deductible insurance.
Assessment: There is no comparable book that presents discussions of healthcare reform from lawyers, economists, and thought leaders. The point-counterpoint format is a wonderful, creative vehicle for covering difficult topics. This format makes it easy for professors to use this book and these arguments in face-to-face or online discussions.

Doody's Review Service

Debates on U.S. Healthcare would be a valuable addition to public libraries and academic libraries. It would benefit students, researchers, voters, and anyone else interested in gaining a better understanding of health-care reform in the U.S.

would be a valuable addition to public libraries and academic libraries. It would benefit students, researchers, voters, and anyone else interested in gaining a better understanding of health-care reform in the U.S.

Booklist

It focuses less on policy, which may become dated, and more on the philosophies behind the health care debate. It would be an excellent addition to any library serving an undergraduate population.

CHOICE

Debates on U.S. Healthcare would be a valuable addition to public libraries and academic libraries. It would benefit students, researchers, voters, and anyone else interested in gaining a better understanding of health-care reform in the U.S.

would be a valuable addition to public libraries and academic libraries. It would benefit students, researchers, voters, and anyone else interested in gaining a better understanding of health-care reform in the U.S.

Booklist