Health Care Reform
(see also Capitalist Medicine, Health Care Reform: Managed Care, Health Care Reform: Single-Payer Insurance & Health Care Delivery)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
Health Care Crisis Should be Top Priority. David S. Broder, Washington Post (7/17/04).
California Senate Bill 921. Sen. Sheila Kuehl's plan for a statewide single-payer system.
Towards Socialized Medicine (Part I): A Historic Chronology. Edward R. Annis, MD, Medical Sentinel 7,4 (2002).
US Spends Most on Health, but France No. 1 in Treatment. Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press (6/20/00).
Why Doesn't America Have Universal Health Care? Gerald Cavanaugh, Ashland Sentient Times (2/99).
Chronology of Significant Events Leading to the Enactment of Medicare.
Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill (1945). Need for universal health care first brought home by poor health of recruits to US Army in World War II. This bill, supported by President Truman, would have guaranteed it in the post-war era but never made it to a vote on the floor of Congress. Why?
On the Web: Specialized Sites
California Nurses Association. Strong supporters of universal & comprehensive health care.
Campaign for Environmentally Responsible Health Care.
Canadian Health Care. Model for the single-payer system advocated by most US reformers.
Health Care in France. Arguably the best system in the world. May have something to teach us.
National Coalition on Health Care.
Physicians for a National Health Program.
Public Citizen Health Research Group.
In the Library: Articles
Amsel, Larry V. "Bad medicine," Tikkun (1-2/96):25-28. Critique of capitalist medicine.
Bodenheimer, Thomas. "The way to real health security," Nation (12/16/91):772-76.
__________. "Private insurance reform in the 1990s: can it solve the health care crisis?" International Journal of Health Services 22,2 (1992):197-215.
__________. "Underinsurance in America," New England Journal of Medicine 327,4 (1992):274-77.
Brown, E. Richard. "Principles for a national health care program: a framework for analysis & development," Milbank Quarterly 66,4 (1988):573-617.
Castellblanch, Ramón. "Legislation for sale," In These Times (10/28/96). How Kassebaum-Kennedy bill benefited insurance companies & made real reform harder to obtain.
Cooper, Donald G. "Save the babies: the passage of a federally supported maternal and infant health act," UCLA History Journal 8 (1987):25-39.
Congressional Quarterly. Special issue on "Health Care's Hour" (9/25/93).
Consumer Reports. 3-part series: "Wasted health care dollars," "Are HMOs the answer?" & "Does Canada have the answer?" (7,8 & 9/92):435-48, 519-31 & 579-92.
Corn, David. "Bill of health," Nation (3/7/94):294.
Donley, Sr. Rosemary. "Ethics in the age of health care reform," Nursing Economics 11,1 (1-2/93):19-23.
Gordon, Suzanne & Judith Shindul-Rothschild. "The managed care scam," Nation (5/16/94):657-64.
Judis, John B. et al. "The Clintons' health cares," In These Times (4/19/93). Debates of that day about health care reform.
Kopkind, Andrew. "Seizing the historic moment," Nation (12/16/91):768-72.
Marmor, Theodore R. &Jenny L. Mashaw. "Canada's health insurance & ours: the real lessons, the big choices" American Prospect 3 (fall 90).
Maschinot, Beth & James Weinstein. "Health care for all," In These Times (4/19/93). Atlanta nurse Rita Valenti's struggle for single payer health insurance.
McKenzie, Nancy F. "The real health care crisis," Nation (2/28/94).
Miller, Matthew. "Health care: a bolt of civic hope," Atlantic (10/00):77-87. On Rep. Jim McDermott's struggle to find bipartisan support for a single payer plan.
Moberg, David. "A Canadian remedy for health-care ills in the U.S.," In These Times (6/26-7/9/91):7,10.
Navarro, Vicente. "Wrong medicine," Nation (2/1/93):113,28. Critique of Alain Enthoven's managed care proposals.
__________. "Give'em health," In These Times (1/24/94):30.
Nolan, Nicole. "Bitter medicine," In These Times (1/20/97). On neoliberal budget-cutting & the undermining of Canada's exemplary system of single-payer health insurance.
Randal, Judith. "Wrong prescription. Why managed competition is no cure," Progressive (5/93).
Starr, Paul. "The middle class & national health reform," American Prospect 6 (sum 91).
__________. "Healthy compromise: universal coverage & managed competition under a cap," American Prospect 12 (win 93).
__________. "What happened to health care reform?" American Prospect 20 (win 95).
Styles, Margretta. "Nursing's role in health care reform," California Nurse (5/92):8-10.
Sullivan, Kip. "Greedlock in Congress," Nation (2/26/01): 30-34. Review essay on Casper, Lost in Washington by seasoned health care reform activist.
Wellstone, Paul. "The GOP's lethal Medicare cure," Tikkun (11-12/95):25.
Wood, Daniel B. "More workers strike over healthcare benefits," Christian Science Monitor (10/16/03):3.
Woolhandler, Steffie & David U. Himmelstein. "Socialized medicine is good business," In These Times (1/25/93).
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Bennett, Arnold & Orville Adams (eds.) Looking North for Health: What We Can Learn from Canada's Health Care System (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993).
Blue Cross of California. Health Care in the 90's: A Global View of Delivery & Financing (LA.1990).
Blum, Virginia. Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery (Berkeley: U. of California, 2003).
California Nurses' Association. California Nurses' Agenda for Health Care Reform (9/93).
Canham-Clyne, John (with S. Woolhandler & D. Himmelstein). The Rational Option: For a National Health Program (NY: Monthly Review, 1998).
Casper, Barry M. Lost in Washington: Finding the Way Back to Democracy in America (Amherst: U. of Massachusetts, 2000).
Congressional Budget Office. Selected Options for Expanding Health Insturance Coverage (Washington, 1991).
Cutler, David. Your Money or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America's Healthcare System (NY: Oxford, 2004).
Hacker, Jacob. The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security (Princeton: Princeton U, 199?).
Hahnel, Robin. The ABCs of Political Economy: A Modern Approach (London: Pluto, 2002).
Howard, Phillip K. The Collapse of the Common Good: How America's Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom (NY: Ballantine, 2002).
Kidder, Tracy. Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer (NY: Random House, 2003).
Kooijman, Jaap. ...And the Pursuit of National Health: The Incremental Strategy toward National Health Insurance in the United States of America (Amsterdam, 1999).
Maioni, Antonia. Parting at the Crossroads: The Emergence of Health Insurance in the US & Canada (Princeton: Princeton U, 199?).
Miller, Henry I. To America's Health: A Proposal to Reform the Food & Drug Administration (Stanford: Hoover Institution, 2000).
Miller, Richard B. Children, Ethics and Modern Medicine (Bloomington: Indiana U., 2003).
Mitchell, Bridger M. The Financing of National Health Insurance (Santa Monica: Rand, 1976).
Noddings, Nel. Starting at Home. Caring & Social Policy (Berkeley, 2001).
Oberlander, Jonathan. The Political Life of Medicare (Chicago: U. Chicago, 2003).
Quadagno, Jill. One Nation, Uninsured: Why the US Has No National Health Insurance (NY: Oxford, 2005).
Rutstein, David. Blueprint for Medical Care (Cambridge MA: MIT, 1974).
Skocpol, Theda. Boomerang: Clinton’s Health Security Effort & the Turn against Government in U.S. Politics (Durham, NC : Duke U. ,1996).
Smith, Susan. Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired: Black Women's Health Activism in America, 1850-1950 (Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania, 1995).
Tomasevski, Katarina (ed.) A Thematic Guide to Documents on Health & Human Rights: Global & Regional Standards Adopted by Intergovernmental Organizations, International Nongovernmental Organizations & Professional Associations (Boston: M. Nijhoff, 1998).
Ubel, Peter A. Pricing Life. Why It's Time for Health Care Rationing (Cambridge MA, 1999).
Waitzkin, Howard. At the Front Lines of Medicine: How the Health Care System Alienates Doctors & Mistreats Patients...& What We Can Do About It (NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
In the Library: Fiction
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"Damaged Care" [2001], dir. Harry Winer, ?m. In video stores.
"John Q" [2002], dir. Nick Cassavetes, 112m. In video stores.