Overview

The American Healthcare system is at a crossroads. On the eve of sweeping health reform, the United States is preparing to embark on the largest expansion of health insurance in its history while simultaneously trying to recover from the slowest period of economic expansion. The economic and political stakes of health policy could not be higher. As the baby boomer population continues to enter the Medicare eligibility phase of their lives, scarcity of physicians and hospital care could reverse the improvements in quality of life enjoyed by Americans for over a century. How did America get to this point? Was it a random set of events? Could the current health care crisis that drove the first comprehensive health reform initiative been avoided?Seeking answers to these questions, Physician Larry N. Smith, M.D. and Professor of Health Finance Stephen T. Parente, Ph.D. review the historic moments that drove the field of medicine from ancient health art to the modern industrial colossus it has become in Medicine's Journey through Ignorance, Bigotry, Poverty, and Politics to America's Uninsured: Historically Based Solutions for Today's Healthcare Problems . Representing the medical and economic professions Smith and Parente offer a unique, research-backed view of the way health care has changed over the centuries. Beginning with Hippocrates' foundations of Western medicine in ancient Greece, the authors carry the reader through the centuries to 20th century America, where a progressive movement pushed government to play a central role in health care delivery. The rich history of the battle for health reform spanning over 100 years, reveals the political undercurrents that ultimately made possible the social and political conditions that enabled the passage of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA).After the diagnosis is rendered on the limitations and risks of ACA, Smith and Parente offer a set of health policy treatments to improve the prognosis of the currently unaffordable and unsustainable health insurance expansion. They outline alternatives that would have accomplished the same goals at the ACA in a less intrusive and more affordable manner. Few Americans may fully understand the legal, financial and constitutional implications that the ACA will have on the nation's future. All those who support or oppose the ACA should take the time to understand the historic origins of the most controversial public policy since the end of the Cold War. Weaving economics, politics and health, Medicine's Journey through Ignorance, Bigotry, Poverty and Politics to America's Uninsured is a timely book with a series of treatments designed to restore American health care to one of the most dynamic, compassionate and effective industries on the world.

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Dr. Larry N. Smith earned his M.D. from the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in 1985. He practiced otolaryngology for over twenty years, is a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and is currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida. He has published numerous articles and editorials on medical economics and also is the author of Darwin's War (amazon.com). The battle over healthcare reform and his interest in medical economics were the inspiration for this book. Dr. Smith resides in Gainesville, FL, with his wife and children. Dr. Stephen T. Parente earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins University 1995 in Health Care Finance and Organization. He currently holds the Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair of Health Finance and is a Professor in the Department of Finance at the Carlson School of Management within the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. He also directs the Medical Industry Leadership Institute, within the Carlson School of Management, serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Health Care Cost Institute as well as Chair of the national advisory board of the Washington, DC based Center for Health and Economy. He testifies regularly before congress and has been published extensively on healthcare financing and economics. Dr. Parente currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife and children.

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