This book was required for class but it gave a great overview of different health care policies in the US and abroad.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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"!

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.

This is probably the best single text I have read on healthcare issues in the USA. The books addresses every relevant aspect of our system. Unlike other excellent books, such as Dr. Arnold Relman's book, A Second Opinion, which analyzes the system, then makes recommendations on how to reform it, the authors here mainly explicate. The format of the book includes brief, usually fictitious, vignettes about physicians, patients or administrators that illustrate the points the authors present. That format - combined with the simply-presented, clear narrative and analysis - works very well. I also find the references to be excellent. Aside from Dr. Relman's book, I recommend any of the books by Prof. Victor Fuchs, in particular Who Shall Live?, books by Prof. Theodore Marmor and the classic by Prof. Paul Starr, The Social Transformation of American Medicine. There are many other excellent books and articles by a wide range of insightful analysts. These kinds of books are invaluable for understanding the issues in healthcare. So much of the information that filters through to the average person via news reports, propaganda issued by interest parties and superficial proposals from polticians is grossly inaccurate and misleading. Reading a book such as this goes a very long way towards cutting through that clutter regardless of one's personal experiences and prejudices.

This book is a great basic review of how health care is delivered. The format and information is most useful for people who are going into medicine. There isn't really anything about the politics behind health care policy; instead the book focuses on defining key terms and outlining the structure of relationships between payers, receivers, and providers. The book also covers the differences between different types of insurance policies, as well as different national health plans of countries with more socialized medicine.

We use this book in the Health Care Policy class for which I am a teaching assistant. It is a good, basic introduction to most of the important issues in health policy and the students give it high marks for clarity and comprehensiveness. It is easy to read and to understand.

This book is very well written. Though it crams a lot of information into a small number of pages, it is easy to understand. It is excellent at covering all angles of a topic.

This book was a requirment for my medical school curriculum. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. I've never read any other books on health policy, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was an excellent books. It is very well written, very easy to understand and extremely informative. I believe anyone interested in health care, medicine, etc. should obtain the knowledge in this book and what better source than "Understanding Health Policy".