Corporatizing American Health Care: How We Lost Our Health Care System

Author:   Robert W. Derlet (University of California, Davis Medical Center)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:  

9781421439587


Pages:   216
Publication Date:   30 March 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Corporatizing American Health Care: How We Lost Our Health Care System


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Overview

Tracking the evolution of medical care from an individualized small cottage profession to a giant impersonal corporate industry costing Americans over $3 trillion each year. Over the past three decades, the once-efficient American health care system has evolved into a complex maze of monopolies and a racket of bureaucratic checks, approvals, denials, roadblocks, and detours. This shift has created a massive and at times redundant workforce that frustrates patients, as well as physicians, nurses, and administrative staff. Health care costs the United States over $3 trillion each year and consumes over 18% of the country's gross domestic product. That's more than $11,000 for each person in the country each year—more than double what it costs in most Western European countries to deliver equal or even better care. In Corporatizing American Health Care, Robert W. Derlet, MD, traces the progression of health care policy in the United States. How, he asks, has US health care transformed from bedside medicine—a model of small practices and patient-focused care—into corporate medicine, which prioritizes profit and deals with both patient care and outcomes as billing codes? Arguing that the US Congress is the root of the problem, he describes how Congress has failed to enact legislation to prevent corporate monopolies in the health care industry. Instead, corrupted by large campaign donations and corporate lobbyists, Congress has crafted loopholes benefiting corporations and harming people. Drawing on his decades as a practicing physician caring for thousands of patients, as well as his university and medical school teaching experience, Derlet follows changes to both policy and practice across many sectors of health care. Scrutinizing how hospitals work, he also takes a hard look at high prescription drug prices, unresponsive insurance companies, problems with the Affordable Care Act, the growing medical implant device industry, and even nursing homes. Finally, he explains why the dominance of corporations and their lobbyists over health policy means that we now pay more for our care and our medications but have less choice both in what doctors we see and in what drugs we take. Breaking down the complex ABCs of health care to reveal the unscrupulous practices of the health care industry, Corporatizing American Health Care is perfect for both students and general readers who want to understand the changes in our system from the perspective of an actual doctor.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert W. Derlet (University of California, Davis Medical Center)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.295kg
ISBN:  

9781421439587


ISBN 10:   1421439581
Pages:   216
Publication Date:   30 March 2021
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Outrageous Cost of American Health Care Chapter 1. Prescription Drugs: Monopolies and Profits Chapter 2. Hospitals: Profit First Chapter 3. Physicians Chapter 4. Health Plans: The Money Middlemen Chapter 5. European Systems of Health Care Delivery Chapter 6. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 and Other Federal Health Care Laws Chapter 7. Emergency Departments Chapter 8. The Medical Implant Device Industry Chapter 9. Tests and Studies: Radiology, Laboratory, and Technical Procedures Chapter 10. Nursing Homes and Special Facilities Conclusion References Index

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Robert W. Derlet, MD, is professor emeritus of emergency medicine at the University of California, Davis.

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