Health of the Nation; Health of the Planet: Medical Priorities and Supply-side Controls
Policy makers not only seek to make baseline health care available to everyone, but are asked to determine what kinds of medical needs should be given priority. Great Britain has been making what are essentially rationing decisions for decades, spen...
What Price?: Emergence and Impact of managed Care, The
The fact that most medical expenditures are paid by health insurance often blinds us to the actual costs of medical care. Despite the initiation of cost-saving measures known as "managed care" in the mid 1980s the cost of health insurance continues ...
What Price?: Healthcare Dilemma: Do Other Nations Have the Answer?, The
Are there approaches to health care or decision-making models other countries use that might prove helpful? Dr. William Schwartz comments on the results of his investigation of the British healthcare system. From an international perspective, most c...
What Price?: Healthcare Dilemma: No Easy Answer, The
Competing need...limited dollars. Should more people be served a little less well or should medical care be provided, regardless of cost, to anyone who can afford to pay for it? Renowned health policy experts and health care professionals probe the ...
What Price?: Staggering Costs of Healthcare in the United States
The figures are staggering. Forty-four million people in the United States are not covered by health insurance of any kind; two-thirds of the unprotected are children. At the same time costs for even simple tests and procedures are rising at an alar...
Final Chapter: Reactions to an Impending Death Sentence
People's reactions to an impending death sentences do not always follow a predictable course. Emotions range from anger to denial to acceptance, moving back and forth. Fear is common - fear of pain, fear of being abandoned, fear of not having time t...
The Modern Plague: Rumblings, New Disease Rumored
The year was 1981. Reports of a strange disease that was attacking seemingly healthy young men began to spread through the medical community. The most important thing initially was to construct a case definition for what is now called AIDS. The comb...
Final Chapter: Helping People Through the Dying Process
The subject of death is often as uncomfortable for doctors as the general public. Their focus is on healing and saving people; death is the enemy. There was a time when doctors did not always reveal that a patient's condition was terminal. Today pro...
The Modern Plague: Fear Among Healthcare Providers; Public Complacency
At the beginning of the epidemic, fear was the bottom line, particularly among healthcare providers. Some healthcare providers refused to take care of these patients. Initially the public was complacent, lulled by the fact that many people considere...
The Medical Marketplace: Primary Care Physician
The insurance plan that is selected often influences the choice of a primary care physician who will provide periodic checkups, suggest preventive strategies, and respond when illness strikes. The primary care doctor recommends specialists when nece...