The Battle Over Health Care: What Obama's Reform Means for America's Future

(Paperback)

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As the most substantial health care reform in almost half a century, President Obama's health care overhaul was as historic as it was divisive. In its aftermath, the debate continues. Drawing on decades of experience in health care policy, health care delivery reform, and economics, Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh provide a non-partisan analysis of the reform and what it means for America and its future. The authors shine a light on truths that have been hidden behind a raucous debate marred by political correctness on both sides of the aisle. They show how health care reform was enacted only with the consent of health insurance companies, drug firms, device manufacturers, hospitals, and other special interests that comprise the medical-industrial complex, which gained millions of new customers with the stroke of a pen. Health care businesses in a market-oriented system are designed to generate revenue, which runs counter to affordable health care. Gibson and Singh take a broader perspective on health care reform not as a single issue but as part of the economic life of the nation. The national debate unfolded while the banking and financial system teetered on the brink of collapse. The authors trace uncanny similarities between the health care industry and the unfettered banking and financial sector. They argue that a fast-changing global economy will have profound implications for the country's economic security and the jobs and health care benefits that come with it, and they predict that global competition will shape the future of employer-provided insurance more than the health care reform law.

Reviews

Health care expert Gibson and World Bank economist Singh have produced a timely, cogent analysis of the high-stakes debate over health care reform legislation. Veterans of conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, the authors parse critical policy concerns in this well-reasoned five-part book. . . . A provocative, informative book directed toward a general audience, but especially policymakers and health-care professionals. * Library Journal *

Author Bio

Rosemary Gibson is a distinguished leader in U.S. health care. At the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she designed and led national initiatives to improve health care. She was vice president of the Economic and Social Research Institute and served as senior associate at the American Enterprise Institute. She is principal author of Wall of Silence and The Treatment Trap. She serves as an editor for the Archives of Internal Medicine series, Less is More. Janardan Prasad Singh is an economist at the World Bank. He has been a member of the International Advisory Council for several prime ministers of India. He worked on economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute and on foreign policy at the United Nations. He has written extensively on health care, social policy, and economic development. He was a member of the Board of Contributors of the Wall Street Journal. He is co-author of Wall of Silence and The Treatment Trap.