This is the first reference book to provide a detailed assessment of the Affordable Care Act, explaining the realities and myths surrounding one of the most divisive political struggles in recent U.S. history. The Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—is one of the most controversial and politicized topics in the United States today. This timely book examines prominent claims about the legislation's drafting, debate, passage, and implementation, and discerns what is true and false about the law. Each of the text's eight chapters delves into the common beliefs, misinterpretations, and myths surrounding the act, tracing the history of the assertion and supporting or challenging its veracity through nonpartisan research and analyses. Chapters begin with an objective look at the claim's origins—with a brief focus on the person or group that conceived it and why—then set about clarifying or debunking it using evidence from research studies and reports from authoritative sources. Entries feature primary documents, a further reading section, and tables and graphs. Topics include the impact on health care costs for families, states, and the federal government; the effect of the Affordable Care Act on employer-sponsored insurance; and the role of health status on coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Sampson Davis is best known as one of three friends from inner-city Newark who made a pact in high school to become doctors. Their book 'The Pact' and their work through the Three Doctors Foundation have inspired countless young men and women to strive for goals they otherwise would not have dreamed they could attain. In this book, Dr Davis looks at the healthcare crisis in the inner city from a rare perspective: as a doctor who works on the front line of emergency medical care in the community where he grew up, and as a member of that community who has faced the same challenges as the people he treats every day. He also offers invaluable practical advice for those living in such communities, where conditions like asthma, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and AIDS are disproportionately endemic.

This expertly prepared policy issues handbook surveys the changing workplace and the failures of America's public health and education systems to prepare the future work force to compete at home and abroad. Carl Stenberg and William Colman analyze the key issues; review a mass of information, ideas, and insights about policy options that are available; and assess their pros and cons. Students, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and concerned citizens will find a wealth of clearly presented data along with careful analyses of the major proposals for reform. Figures, tables, short summaries, appendices, bibliographical aids, and a full index make this one-volume landmark reference accessible to researchers and readers at different levels and for varied use.

This book explains the origins and early developments of Japanese medical insurance systems from the 1920s to the 1950s. It closely examines the changes in the systems and the symbiotic relationship between Japan's status in international relations and the development of domestic medical insurance systems. While previous studies have regarded the origins and development of Japanese medical insurance systems as merely a domestic issue and pay little attention to the role or effects of international affairs, this book closely examines the changes in these systems by looking at the enactment of the Health Insurance Law in 1922, the establishment of the National Health Insurance in 1938, the epoch-making reforms of 1942, numerous plans in the early Allied occupation period, and Japan's social security plan in 1950. In doing so, it shows that there was indeed a symbiotic relationship between Japan's status in international relations and the changing nature of domestic medical insurance systems. It also reveals that Japan's status in international relations set the framework within which interested groups, primarily the government, made rational choices. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and students who have an interest in the Japanese medical insurance systems.

Drawing on in-depth case studies across England, this book argues that governance and population health are inextricably linked. Using original research, it shows how these links can be illustrated at a local level through commissioning practice related to health and wellbeing. Exploring the impact of governance on decision- making, Governance, commissioning and public health analyses how principles, such as social justice, and governance arrangements, including standards and targets, influence local strategies and priorities for public health investment. In developing 'public health governance' as a critical concept, the study demonstrates the complexity of the governance landscape for public health and the leadership qualities required to negotiate it. This book is essential reading for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in governance and decision-making for public health.

This book presents a socio-economic analysis of the issues linking technological innovation in providing arsenic-safe drinking water in rural areas. It presents concrete field based experiences of experiments and case studies depicting the plight and sufferings of people due to failed technological deployment strategies over the past two decades in West Bengal, the most arsenic-exposed state in India and also the first to act for remediation of the crisis. One of the greatest challenges in arsenic-exposed zones is to provide sustainable access to reliably arsenic-safe free water. For nearly twenty years the Government of India and national water distribution institutions in collaboration with multi-lateral funding agencies have sought to pump in money, push technology collected through global tenders, and enlist the support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but their efforts have yielded little success. This book is the outcome of the authors' intensive fieldwork, guided by the conceptual framework of the latest literature on environmental economics and consumer behaviour. It presents a framework and estimates based on field level primary data. Secondary official source-based data are also collated from various scattered sources into a valuable, comprehensive collection. Lastly, the book includes a revealing analysis of factors affecting households' participation.

The main objective of this work is to provide a book with high quality content that becomes a reference and support for graduate course (Mental Health, Public Health and Epidemiology) and for research in the domain of health economics applied to mental health. Also this book might be useful for policymakers on formulating mental health policies. Key messages of this book are based on: a) mental illness represent a huge cost for society and for health care; b) health economics applied to mental health could help in the optimization of resource allocation for mental health care and for better decision making in terms of balancing costs and benefits; c) interventions and treatment should be also chosen in general medical practice and in public decision-policy according to cost-effectiveness, burden of disease and equity principles; d) quality of care is related with better outcomes, higher quality of life for clients, and with lower costs for society and health system (best value for money); e) it is possible to decrease the burden of mental disorders with cost-effective treatments. The book is divided in four main topics: 1. Introduction to Health Economics applied to Mental Health - this section is an overview of basic principles, concepts and methods used in Economics and Health Economics to enable students to make critical appraisal of Health Economics texts and also to design research studies in this topic. 2. Health Economics applied to the evaluation of quality and costs of Mental Health Services - this section presents results of Brazilian studies on the costs of mental health care (hospital, outpatient care, residential care, informal care), methods on the measurement of costs and it discusses issues related with public policies decisions and quality of mental health car in the low and middle income countries context. There is also an overview of quality indicators of mental health care and instruments to evaluate mental health services and costs.3. Health Economics applied to evaluate treatment of mental disorders - This section presents a review of cost-effectiveness of pharmacological treatments and other interventions applied for treating the most burdensome mental disorders such as depressive and anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, psychosis, alcohol and drug disorders, dementia, and hyper attention deficit disorders. 4. Health Economics, burden and indirect costs of mental disorders - This section highlights the social and economic burden caused by mental illness under societal perspective focusing on stigma, unemployment, indirect costs in the workplace (absenteeism and presenteeism), the relationship between poverty and mental disorders, global health and social determinants of mental health and on the costs of mental disorders (depression, anxiety, psychosis, alcohol and drug disorders). We present some instruments to measure indirect costs of mental disorders.

This study examines and explains the relationship between social health insurance (SHI) participation and out-of-pocket expenditures (OOP) as well as the mediating role the institutional arrangement of SHI plays in this relationship in China. Embracing a new institutionalist approach, it develops two analytical perspectives: determination, which identifies the mechanisms of social health insurance, and strategic interaction, which explores the interaction among social health insurance agencies, healthcare providers, patients, and institutions. It reveals the poor performance of social health insurance in decreasing out-of-pocket health expenditures caused by a trade-off between the reimbursement, behavior management, and purchasing mechanisms of social health insurance programs. Further, it finds that the inequitable allocation of healthcare resources and patients' concerns regarding the benefits offset the strategies used by social health insurance agencies to manage care-seeking behavior. It also discovers that the complex interactions between insurance agencies, doctors, patients and a larger disenabling institutional surrounding restricts the purchasing efficiency of social health insurance. This book is characterized by its unique synthesis of the role of the institutional arrangement of social health insurance in China, the interaction between the stakeholders in health sectors, and of the relationship between healthcare institutions, actors, and policy outcomes. Providing a comprehensive overview, it enables scholars and graduate students to understand the ongoing process of social health insurance reform as well as the dynamics of health cost inflation in China. It also benefits policymakers by recommending a single-payer model based on an evidence-based investigation.

Patients as Policy Actors offers groundbreaking accounts of one of the health field's most important developments of the last fifty years--the rise of more consciously patient-centered care and policymaking. The authors in this volume illustrate, from multiple disciplinary perspectives, the unexpected ways that patients can matter as both agents and objects of health care policy yet nonetheless too often remain silent, silenced, misrepresented, or ignored. The volume concludes with a unique epilogue outlining principles for more effectively integrating patient perspectives into a pluralistic conception of policy-making. With the recent enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, patients' and consumers' roles in American health care require more than ever the careful analysis and attention exemplified by this innovative volume.

This first-of-its-kind volume traces rarely explored links between public policy, the state of the environment, and key issues in public health, with recommendations for addressing longstanding intractable problems. Experts across diverse professions use their wide knowledge and experience to discuss hunger and food sustainability, land use, chronic and communicable diseases, child mortality, and global water quality. Interventions described are varied as well, from green technology breakthroughs to regulatory accountability, innovative urban planning and community policing programs. Chapters build and expand on each other's themes inspiring deeper understanding and critical thinking that further prompts readers to develop practical solutions leading to improvements in planetary and population health outcomes. Included in the coverage: * The challenge of implementing macroeconomic policy in an increasingly microeconomic world * Green aid flows: trends and opportunities for developing countries * Planning healthy communities: abating preventable chronic diseases * Foundations of community health: planning access to public facilities * International changes in environmental conditions and their personal health consequences Translating National Policy to Improve Environmental Conditions Impacting Public Health is developed for educators, students, and policymakers to generate awareness and review options to help create change in their communities. Federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the EPA, and Housing and Urban Development will also find it salient.

Dr. James Hansen's vision and insight regarding the nature of the health care crisis evolved from positions of medical staff leadership, teaching, participating in the governance process, and developing a free clinic. These positions, together with his 35 years as a consulting physician, presented him with the opportunity to view physician behavior and its impact both on patients and upon health care in general. These observations crystallized his conclusion that the essence of successful health care springs from the physician-patient relationship. Dr. Hansen received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. He then attended the University of Southern California School of Medicine where he received his MD in 1965. His post graduate training in internal medicine occupied the next four years at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. After a three year stint in the Army he returned to Wadsworth VA-UCLA for a fellowship in gastroenterology. Dr. Hansen is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Gastroenterology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. He has been in private practice since 1973. He was appointed to the Mercy Healthcare Board of Trust in 1988, serving in that capacity for three years. He served as chief-of-staff for both American River Hospital and Mercy San Juan Hospital from 1990-1993 and was actively engaged in consolidating the medical. staffs of those two hospitals which merged in 1993. He was the chairman of the Physician Leadership Group for the 5-hospital Mercy Healthcare Sacramento system from 1995-1998 during a period of hospital redesign. Dr. Hansen was actively involved in teaching at UC Davis, School of Medicine for nearly 20 years as a voluntary clinical faculty person. In 1994 he helped develop a free clinic in Sacramento and became its medical director until moving to Maui in 2001. Dr. Hansen has been in the private practice of gastroenterology in Maui since 2001. Dr. Hansen's unique perspective as a practicing physician, physician leader, and medical educator provides the perspective and passion for his quest of the root cause and cure of the health care crisis. This book offers a solution for the health care crisis, which focuses on the need for a grass level approach and revolution led by the citizenry.

Fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines and restless legs syndrome are disorders caused by an inability of the brain to properly regulate pain and sympathetic nervous activity, according to rheumatologist Dr. Clay McCord. Dr. McCord presents evidence that a chemical imbalance in the brain disrupts deep sleep. Therapy that restores this imbalance improves sleep and alleviates symptoms. Failure to recognize these associations has led to misdiagnosis, mistreatment, referrals to multiple specialists and money needlessly wasted. This book attempts to put an end to misunderstandings as they relate to fibromyalgia and dispels myths that the disease either doesn't exist or is all in the patient's mind. No longer should patients suffer unnecessarily or fall victim to charlatans offering nothing more than "junk science." After being frustrated for years watching others profit off discredited theories, Dr. McCord feels revealing the truth is the only way to combat the deception and bring relief to those who suffer. TH Dr. Clay McCord practices medicine in southern California. He graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and is certified in Rheumatology and Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

This work offers a social and cultural history of Victorian medicine "from below," as experienced by ordinary practitioners and patients, often described in their own words. Health, Medicine, and Society in Victorian England is a human story of medicine in 19th-century England. It's a story of how a diverse and competitive assortment of apothecary apprentices, surgeons who learned their trade by doing, and physicians schooled in ancient Greek medicine but lacking in any actual experience with patients, was gradually formed into a medical profession with uniform standards of education and qualification. It's a story of how medical men struggled with "new" diseases such as cholera and "old" ones known for centuries, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, and smallpox, largely in the absence of effective drugs or treatments, and so were often reduced to standing helplessly by as their patients died. It's a story of how surgeons, empowered first by anesthesia and later by antiseptic technique, vastly expanded the field of surgery—sometimes with major benefits for patients, but sometimes with disastrous results. Above all, it's a story of how gender and class ideology dominated both practitioners and patients. Women were stridently excluded from medical education and practice of any kind until the end of the century, but were hailed into the new field of nursing, which was felt to be "natural" to the gentler sex. Only the poor were admitted to hospitals until the last decades of the century, and while they often received compassionate care, they were also treated as "cases" of disease and experimented upon with freedom. Yet because medical knowledge was growing by leaps and bounds, Victorians were fascinated with this new field and wrote novels, poetry, essays, letters, and diaries, which illuminate their experience of health and disease for us. Newly developed techniques of photography, as well as improved print illustrations, help us to picture this fascinating world. This vivid history of Victorian medicine is enriched with many literary examples and visual images drawn from the period.

This book provides an overview of the ongoing transition in China's health system, especially focusing on the new healthcare reform initiated in 2009. First, it reviews the changes in China's healthcare system from the 1950s to 2008, establishing the situation when the reform was introduced. The book subsequently analyzes the social and economic context in which the health system is embedded. Since the primary focus is on the new healthcare reform, the book introduces the blueprint and the year-for-year development of the new healthcare reform, as well as the specific reforms in health financing, public hospitals, and primary care. Given its central importance in the health system, the book also described major trends in long-term care in the past several years. In addition, it examines the health policy-making process with a case study of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme of China. Lastly, the book assesses the performance of China's health system and predicts future developmental trends.

Offering a coherent, developed critique of neoliberal health policies that have become the common denominator of "health reforms" on a global level, this work questions whether these major "reforms" are driven by the health needs of the wider population or, in fact, by nonhealth considerations such as financial and political concerns of governments and global institutions. It presents the key issues facing health professionals today and explores the barrage of policies that threaten to deny them the right to deliver quality health care. The book's use of a common analytical framework produces a consistent critical analysis of different situations in various countries, making its approach wholly unlike previous studies of the topic of modern healthcare. Providing an alternative to the prevailing orthodoxy that has captured the global health agenda since 1978, it offers hope and support campaigners, students, academics, medics, and administrators.

Loustaunau and Sanchez-Bane combine their many years of association and collaboration dealing with health issues in the U.S.-Mexico border area, to bring together a series of chapters illustrating that asi es la vida, that's life, need not indicate a fatalistic acceptance that poverty, sickness, misery, and misfortune must be taken in stride. The authors of the chapters have researched, studied, worked with, or have been borderlanders themselves. The chapters focus on the impact of the social structure, and on the power and determination of people to change their conditions for the better, increasing their choices and enlarging their worlds. They look beyond political and economic barriers to find the spark in the human spirit that must be identified and nurtured to produce a better life for the benefit of peoples and nations on both sides of the border, and to nourish the third culture as a bridge between nations. The authors note the dangers and pitfalls along the way, and the need for more realistic policies and programs to empower people to define their own problems, and to participate in fashioning the solutions.

Amid ongoing debate about health care reform, the need for informedanalyses of health policy is greater than ever. The twelve original essays inthis volume show that common public debates routinely bypass complexethical, sociocultural, historical, and political questions about how we shouldaddress ideals of justice and equality in health care. Integrating perspectivesfrom the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and public health, the contributorsilluminate the relationships between justice and health inequalitiesto complicate and enrich debates often dominated by simplistic narratives. Understanding Health Inequalities and Justice grounds key conceptualdiscussions in timely case studies and policy analyses that explore threeoverarching questions: first, how do scholars approach relations betweenhealth inequalities and ideals of justice; second, when do justice considerationsinform solutions to health inequalities, and how do specific healthinequalities affect perceptions of injustice; and third, how can diverse scholarlyapproaches contribute to better health policy? From addressing patientagency in an inequitable health care environment to examining how scholarsof social justice and health care amass evidence, this volume combines theskills and sensibilities of diverse scholars to promote a richer understandingof health and justice and the successful paths to their realization. The contributors are Judith C. Barker, Paula Braveman, Paul Brodwin,Jami Suki Chang, Debra DeBruin, Leslie A. Dubbin, Sarah Horton, Carla C.Keirns, J. Paul Kelleher, Nicholas B. King, Eva Feder Kittay, Joan Liaschenko,Anne Drapkin Lyerly, Mary Faith Marshall, Carolyn Mokley Rouse, JenniferPrah Ruger, and Janet K. Shim.