Book Description

This book has three main parts: (1) the challenges of the U.S. health care system; (2) the impacts of economic recessions and high unemployment on the U.S. population’s health; and (3) recommendations or a look into what might improve the health care system. Part I, through a dissection of the challenges faced by the U.S. health care system, exposes the particularities and the vulnerabilities of the system. It shows the role played by businesses and employment in the U.S. population’s health and describes major challenges of the health care system such as astronomical health care costs, the average family health spending – which is exceedingly high, wasteful spending, death due to inaccessibility to health care, and the hardships that medical costs created for more than half of Americans. Part II is an analysis as to why do economic recessions have health implications. That analysis is done by considering the health implications of economic recessions both at the micro and macroeconomic levels and by considering the societal costs of uninsurance or inaccessibility to health care due to economic recessions and high unemployment. Part III primarily focuses on what can make the system better, that is more efficient and more cost-effective. Ironically, as Part III argues, there are a myriad of feasible recommendations that are waiting to be fully explored, agreed upon, adopted and implemented nationwide: · Design labor and fiscal policies aimed at preventing economic recessions and high unemployment o Blend labor and fiscal policies into structural reforms · Create job security and take other steps that guarantee health care security during financial hardship · Improve health outcomes through nationwide permanent supportive housing to combat chronic homelessness during economic recessions and high unemployment · Prioritize the use of more cost-effective medical technologies o Promote telemedicine to reduce costs and improve accessibility to health care · Eliminate health disparities thanks to the democratization of health care · Promote health literacy and the valorization of communities · Design policies or procedures that 1) promote health care costs reduction and efficiency through affordable insurance coverage and 2) eliminate Wasteful spending: o Extend drug coverage and implement cost-effective pricing policies o Extend coverage of more medical procedures and implement cost-effective policies On the other hand, Part III also sells the idea of a thorough and bold revolution in our health care system, which would make health care a right of citizenship. It does so by analyzing the political, social, ethical, and economic aspects of the issue. Furthermore, it argues that the relationship between universal health care and economics justifies the notion of “health care as a right of citizenship.”