The healing of America : a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care

From Publishers Weekly Washington Post correspondent Reid ( The United States of Europe ) explores health-care systems around the world in an effort to understand why the U.S. remains the only first world nation to refuse its citizens universal health care. Neither financial prudence nor concern for the commonweal explains the American position, according to Reid, whose findings divulge that the U.S. not only spends more money on health care than any other nation but also leaves 45 million residents uninsured, allowing about 22,000 to die from easily treatable diseases. Seeking treatment for the flareup of an old shoulder injury, he visits doctors in the U.S., France, Germany, Japan and England�with a stint in an Ayurvedic clinic in India�in a quest for treatment that dovetails with his search for a cure for America's health-care crisis, a narrative device that sometimes feels contrived, but allows him valuable firsthand experience. For all the scope of his research and his ability to mint neat rebuttals to the common American misconception that universal health care is socialized medicine, Reid neglects to address the elephant in the room: just how are we to sell these changes to the mighty providers and insurers? (Sept.) Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description Important and powerful...a rich tour of health care around the world." -Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times How is it that all other industrialized democracies provide health care for their citizens as a reasonable cost-something the United States has never managed to do? In The Healing of America , New York Times bestselling author T.S. Reid shows how they do it, bringing to bear his talent for explaining complex issues in a clear, engaging way. In his global quest to find a prescription for American health care, Reid finds that it's not all "socialized medicine" out there. Instead, many industrialized democracies rely on free-market models the U.S. could use to cure a health system that has failed us. Bestselling author T. R. Reid guides a whirlwind tour ofsuccessful health care systems worldwide, revealing possible pathstoward U.S. reformIn The Healing of America, New York Timesbestselling author T. R. Reid shows how all the otherindustrialized democracies have achieved something the UnitedStates can’t seem to do: provide health care for everybody at areasonable cost.In his global quest to find a possible prescription,Reid visits wealthy, free market, industrialized democracieslike our own—including France, Germany, Japan, the U.K.,and Canada—where he finds inspiration in example. Reidshares evidence from doctors, government officials, health careexperts, and patients the world over, finding that foreign healthcare systems give everybody quality care at an affordable cost.And that dreaded monster “socialized medicine”turns out to be a myth. Many developed countries provideuniversal coverage with private doctors, private hospitals, andprivate insurance.In addition to long-established systems, Reid alsostudies countries that have carried out major health carereform. The first question facing these countries—and theUnited States, for that matter—is an ethical issue: Is healthcare a human right? Most countries have already answered witha resolute yes, leaving the United States in the murky moralbackwater with nations we typically think of as far less just thanour own.The Healing of America lays bare the moral questionat the heart of our troubled system, dissecting the misleadingrhetoric surrounding the health care debate. Reid sees problemselsewhere, too: He finds poorly paid doctors in Japan, endlesslines in Canada, mistreated patients in Britain, spartan facilitiesin France. Still, all the other rich countries operate at a lowercost, produce better health statistics, and cover everybody.In the end, The Healing of America is a good news book: Itfinds models around the world that Americans can borrow toguarantee health care for everybody who needs it. Prologue: A Moral Question -- A Quest For Two Cures -- Different Models, Common Principles -- The Paradox -- France : The Vital Card -- Germany : Applied Christianity -- Japan : Bismarck On Rice -- The U.k. : Universal Coverage; No Bills -- Canada : Sorry To Keep You Waiting -- Out Of Pocket -- Too Big To Change? -- An Apple A Day -- The First Question -- Major Surgery -- Appendix: The Best Health Care System In The World. T.r. Reid. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 261-267) And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Ipswich, Ma Available Via World Wide Web. Master And Use Copy. Digital Master Created According To Benchmark For Faithful Digital Reproductions Of Monographs And Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. Http://purl.oclc.org/dlf/benchrepro0212 Miaahdl Digitized 2011 Hathitrust Digital Library Committed To Preserve Pda Miaahdl "New York Times"--Bestselling author Reid shows how all the other industrialized democracies have achieved something the U.S. can't seem to do: provide health care for everybody at a reasonable cost