The United States spends significantly more per person on health care than any other country but the evidence shows that care is often poor and inappropriate. Despite expenditures upwards of 1.9 trillion dollars -- a cost that grows substantially every year --health care services remain fragmented and uncoordinated, and more than 46 million people are uninsured. Why can’t America, with its vast array of resources, sophisticated technologies, superior medical research and educational institutions, and talented health care professionals, produce higher quality care and better outcomes?
In The Truth about Health Care, David Mechanic explains how health care in America has evolved in ways that favor myriad economic, professional, and political interests over those of patients. While money has always had a place in medical care, -- big money -- and the quest for profits has become dominant, making meaningful reforms difficult to achieve. Mechanic acknowledges that railing against these influences, which are here to stay, can achieve only so much. Instead, he asks whether it is possible to convert what is best about health care in America into a well functioning system that better serves the entire population.
To order this title, please visit the Rutgers University Press website.
David Mechanic. The Truth about Health Care: Why Reform Is Not Working in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
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