Understanding Health Policy (LANGE Clinical Medicine)

by Thomas Bodenheimer, Kevin Grumbach

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Editorial Reviews
Product Description

An engaging and clinically applicable work on the principles and structure of the U.S. healthcare system

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Understanding Health Policy is the best-written, most informative book available on the subject--and it's the #1 choice for healthcare students and professionals alike. The authors carefully weave key principles, descriptions, and concrete examples into chapters that make important health policy issues both interesting and understandable.

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Fully updated to reflect current issues in the ever-changing world of healthcare, the newest edition addresses all the topics that affect you most, from the structure and organization of the industry to issues regarding government and private insurance, to access to healthcare.

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Everything you need to understand how the healthcare system works - and your role in it:

Clinical vignettes in every chapter illustrate key points.
Detailed treatment of both U.S. and international issues.
A complete chapter of review questions .
NEW Expanded coverage of healthcare workers other than physicians.
NEW Closer scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry.
NEW Brand-new chapter on the medical education system

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Book great for class, 2008-09-15
This book was required for class but it gave a great overview of different health care policies in the US and abroad.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

Good overview, but only half the story, 2007-11-14
As another reviewer noted, this book starts from the premise that health care is a right. As a result of this perspective, the first several chapters feature "sob stories" on nearly every page detailing hypothetical examples of people who are put in a bad situation in our current system. Now, our current system is deeply flawed and any unbiased observer would concede this point, but it struck me as odd that the authors would commenti so heavily on the shortfalls of the American system, and so little on the shortfalls of "universal models" of the type they advocate (long waiting time for the majority of procedures, crowded emergency rooms, less use of advanced technologies, health care rationing, and many of the best doctors leaving the country).

In summary, this is a very well researched book and there is little if anything stated here that isn't true. There is, however, a great deal that is deemphasized or simply unsaid because it does not support the authors preconceived ideas of what an idea health care model ought to look like.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Everything You Want To Know, 2007-11-07
This book turned out to be worth more than I paid for. It's an easy read - and gives you fictional stories explaining the concepts behind health care issues and scenarios to help you put into perspective what the author is talking about. The stories are extremely helpful if you are a newbie to public health and health care issues. Should be one of the books you keep on the shelf to refer to from time to time. You cant go wrong with this book.

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1 out of 5 stars

Should health care be a right?, 2007-08-22
Beware: This is an highly ideological text that starts with the assumption that health care is a right! It than goes on to say that in order to fulfill that right it is necessary to control the costs of health care. Obviously, cost control is a very problematic economic proposition that calls for state intervention and that sometimes has consequences that are the opposite of what is desired.
In the UK, where health care is a right, cost control has led to shortages, waiting lists and an overall degradation of health care. The UK, currently, has the highest mortality rates for oncological problems of all the EU countries and British people got used to flying to France and India for medical care. Canadians also have shortages and Canadians resort to the US.
Sometimes a "right" can easily turn into a "wrong"!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5 out of 5 stars

Easy to read, 2007-07-15
I got this book for a graduate class that I am taking. This book uses clear language when presenting the material and has many mini "case studies" for examples, which makes it easy to read. Though I am required to read this book, it is not the standard, wall-of-text, that I am use to reading.

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