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Mother of Invention Robert I. Field (Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University)

Mother of Invention By Robert I. Field (Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University)

Summary

Underlying America's robust private health care industry is an indispensible partner that has guided and supported it for over half a century: the government. This book demonstrates how government initiatives created American health care as we know it today and places the Obama plan in its true historical and political context.

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Mother of Invention Summary

Mother of Invention: How the Government Created Free-Market Health Care by Robert I. Field (Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University)

By relying on private enterprise more than any other developed nation, American health care has all the appearances of free-market in action. And for more than a hundred years, attempts to reform this system (including President Obama's Affordable Care Act) have been met with opposition from parties warning against the stifling effect of government intervention. What these warnings about federal overreach overlook is the fact that the federal government has long been an indispensible player in guiding and supporting the current US health care system. Its role is so pervasive and of such longstanding importance that it is easy to overlook, but it actually created American health care as we know it today. Seminal public programs stand behind every segment of America's massive and hugely profitable health care industry. This is not to deny the instrumental roles of private entrepreneurship and innovation, but rather to describe the foundation on which they rest. The industry's underlying driving force is a massive partnership between the public and private spheres. The partnership is complex, and its effects are not always ideal. But for better or worse, it shapes every aspect of what we in the United States know as health care. Mother of Invention traces the government's role in building four key health care sectors into the financial powerhouses they are today: pharmaceuticals, hospitals, the medical profession, and private insurance. It traces their history, surveys their growth, and highlights some of their greatest success stories, which together reveal the indispensible role of public initiatives in contemporary private health care. Only by understanding what actually drives our system can we appreciate possibilities for meaningful reform or comprehend the true context - historically and politically - of the Obama plan.

Mother of Invention Reviews

There are many books about healthcare reform, but none that explore the topic of the role of government and the partnership with private companies the way this one does. Its unique spin on how government cannot ever be totally separate from healthcare delivery provides great material for debates. * Doody's Notes *

About Robert I. Field (Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University)

Robert I. Field is Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he primarily teaches courses in health law and health policy. He has written extensively on the American health care system and has authored a comprehensive overview of health care regulation, Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation and Compromise (also published by Oxford University Press). He is a frequent media commentator on health care issues and has been quoted by NPR, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and numerous other outlets. He also writes a regular blog for The Philadelphia Inquirer entitled The Field Clinic.

Table of Contents

Preface ; Chapter 1 - What's Private About the Free Market? ; Chapter 2 - The Government and the Private Market in Health Care ; Chapter 3 - How the Government Created the Pharmaceutical Industry ; Chapter 4 - How the Government Created the Hospital Industry ; Chapter 5 - How the Government Created the Medical Profession ; Chapter 6 - How the Government Created Private Health Insurance ; Chapter 7 - The Distinctively American System that the Government Created ; Chapter 8 - Health Reform, Government Initiative, and the Future of American Health Care ; Selected Bibliography ; Notes

Additional information

CIN0199746753VG
9780199746750
0199746753
Mother of Invention: How the Government Created Free-Market Health Care by Robert I. Field (Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University)
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press Inc
20131212
336
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Mother of Invention