by Jill Quadagno
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Product Description
Every industrial nation in the world guarantees its citizens access to essential health care services--every country, that is, except the United States. In fact, one in eight Americans--a shocking 43 million people--do not have any health care insurance at all.
One Nation, Uninsured offers a vividly written history of America's failed efforts to address the health care needs of its citizens. Covering the entire twentieth century, Jill Quadagno shows how each attempt to enact national health insurance was met with fierce attacks by powerful stakeholders, who mobilized their considerable resources to keep the financing of health care out of the government's hands. Quadagno describes how at first physicians led the anti-reform coalition, fearful that government entry would mean government control of the lucrative private health care market. Doctors lobbied legislators, influenced elections by giving large campaign contributions to sympathetic candidates, and organized "grassroots" protests, conspiring with other like-minded groups to defeat reform efforts. As the success of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-century led physicians and the AMA to start scaling back their attacks, the insurance industry began assuming a leading role against reform that continues to this day.
One Nation, Uninsured offers a sweeping history of the battles over health care. It is an invaluable read for anyone who has a stake in the future of America's health care system.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Surprisingly interesting and readable primer on such a complex issue, 2007-10-09
One Nation Uninsured is brought to life in a fresh way by various first-hand recollections that are peppered throughout detailed, academic sketches of the major historical episodes that failed to produce national health insurance. Instead of reading like another dry textbook, this book provides an informative, intimate, and plausible narrative of why many of the major players did what they did in light of their different circumstances, motivations, and temperaments. Particular attention is also paid to other important non-health care events, such as the Red Scare, Brown v. Board of Education, Watergate, and Iran-Contra, as they indirectly affected the political will to mobilize for and against national health insurance, making this account all the more believable and nicely nuanced.
My only complaint is that since the book was published in 2005, 2006 Part D legislation which expanded Medicare coverage, could not be discussed, but hopefully an updated edition will be written in a few years. Overall, a surprisingly interesting and readable primer on such a complex issue.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 Special Interests Prevail, 2007-05-12
Very enlightening historical perspective on national health insurance. It seems special interests dominant in our democratic society. Quite surprising that both republican & democratic presidents tried to pass national health insurance. Special interests contribute to both parties and when the going gets close focus on those candidates who are vulnerable in order to entice their vote.
In our current lack of bi-partisian political climate, it seems very doubtful that national health insurance has a chance of being passed.
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
book was cheap and new, 2007-02-09
the book came on time, looks new and was incredibly cheap
7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Praise for One Nation, Uninsured, 2006-03-13
"An important book. Jill Quadagno provides an impressive array of historical evidence to advance original arguments for why the United States lacks a comprehensive health care system and why health insurance should be viewed as a social right. This book is must reading for those concerned about health care reform in the United States." -- William Julius Wilson, author of When Work Disappears
"A chilling historical account of how powerful groups with self-serving financial interests have successfully blocked attempts to enact national health insurance for seven decades, leaving tens of millions of our citizens without adequate health care coverage and often without even minimal care. Anyone eager to seek reform of our badly fragmented health care system must study its lessons and its blueprint for action; a task that will require nearly unprecedented political skills and monumental organizational prowess." -- Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D., author of On The Take: How Medicine's Complicity With Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
"Jill Quadagno has produced the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the power and effectiveness of interest groups in defeating a century of national health insurance reform campaigns. An impressive combination of theory and historical research, One Nation, Uninsured sets the parameters for the next round of debate over why the U.S. remains the only country without universal health insurance and how it might still expand access while reigning in costs." -- Lawrence R. Jacobs, McKnight Land Grant Professor, University of Minnesota
"A fresh, savvy, powerful, ambitious, lyrical explanation of how America became so heartless about health care. Highly recommended for both citizens and scholars." -- James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and Healthy, Wealthy, and Fair
"Quadagno, a distinguished sociologist with a long-standing interest in policy, explores a century of government attempts to create universal health care and the powerful forces that have defeated those attempts.... Her sociological insights illuminate a path to reform." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune
"Readable and engaging.... Some of the most interesting portions come from Quadagno's own archival searches and her interviews with people who lived the history that she describes.... Quadagno's sustained focus on interest-group politics seems right on target." -- New England Journal of Medicine
"A strongly argued account that provides useful ammunition for anyone seeking to effect change in a medical system that willfully excludes so many who need it." -- Kirkus Reviews
3 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
 More bogus literature, 2005-07-04
See my review of "Uninsured in America: Life & Death in the Land of Opportunity" for reasons why this argument is bogus and filled with lies.
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