The first book to address the fundamental nexus that binds poverty and income inequality to soaring health care utilization and spending, Poverty and the Myths of Health Care Reform is a must-read for medical professionals, public health scholars, politicians, and anyone concerned with the heavy burden of inequality on the health of Americans.

Harrington (sociology and nursing, University of California-San Francisco) and Estes (sociology, University of California-San Francisco) look at policy issues at the forefront of modern health care delivery in an effort to persuade health professionals to add political work to their lives. Contributors overview health policy and the political proce

Market-Based Health Care defines for students the challenges, arguments and politics behind the concept of consumer-driven health care including what it would look like if the business sector would do a better job of organizing our health care arrangements and remove any governmental components built into the system. As a sociologist interested in health care, Budrys focuses on the impact our health care arrangements have on not just an economic level but how they affect people as well. This is an overwhelmingly complex topic and debate and one that is discussed widely in the classroom. This will be the first text to clearly present the market-based health care model and how doctors, medical insurance and “big pharma” play a role in its development.

Are you tired of hearing that the American health care 'system' is broken? Well, it is. You can't understand your bill--or pay it; you wait an hour before seeing the doctor for ten minutes; and that was your child who was just laid off, and whose family has no health insurance. Health Care Half-Truths shows the ways in which American health care is tarnished and ways in which it shines, explaining that if we are going to make our health care system work for us we must begin with a common set of information. Unfortunately, our current information comes from sound bites that on their surface seem perfectly reasonable, but on closer examination are wrong. Health Care Half-Truths untangles the misinformation, misperceptions, and confusion that have confounded the American public and our elected officials. Dr. Arthur Garson identifies twenty myths about the U.S. health care system and uses his extensive knowledge and keen insights to blow them apart.

This timely book draws on some of the most well-respected experts in the country to examine the role of individual citizens, private charities, employers, & government in providing healthcare access &/or services to those who are unable to pay.

Significantly revised and updated, the fourth edition of Our Unsystematic Health Care System provides an accessible overview of the US health care system, with a focus on the impact of the Affordable Care Act. As in previous editions, the book introduces health insurance arrangements in the United States and compares them to health care in other countries.