Description
Book SynopsisLooks at America's long tradition of unequal access to health care. This title argues that two main features have characterized the US health system: a refusal to adopt a right to care and a particularly American approach to the rationing of care.
Trade Review"Beatrix Hoffman's goal is to encourage an honest debate about healthcare reform by identifying the varied forms of healthcare rationing.... It is a well-researched, readable primer on the development of the complex, fragmented US medical system.... Hoffman paints a striking picture of the human face of need." (Times Higher Education) "In the American political debate, everybody condemns the notion of 'rationing' health care. But Beatrix Hoffman's meticulous history shows that rationing-by income, age, employment, etc.-has been, and remains, a central element of America's medical system. She demonstrates that our various attempts at reform over the decades have kept the rationing mechanisms firmly in place." (T. R. Reid, author of The Healing of America: The Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care) "Beatrix Hoffman's rational, plainspoken analysis succeeds in clarifying the discourse around a topic of pressing national importance, delineating partisans' priorities, and discarding the numerous distractions." (Publishers Weekly)"
