Health at Risk

Illness is always a risk, but for a growing number of Americans, poor health can also mean bankruptcy or being forced to choose between enormous healthcare costs and other needs. Unemployment, too, is always a risk, but for many Americans losing one's job can lead to a loss of health insurance or being denied coverage at a new job. Health at Risk clarifies this issue clear in five briskly written chapters. It demands attention from policymakers, social scientists, and everyone concerned with the public good. -- Craig Calhoun, president, Social Science Research Council At a critical time in our national debate on health care reform, Jacob Hacker and his colleagues have given us an invaluable guide to the future. We can no longer accept a do-nothing approach, when millions of our fellow citizens lack health insurance coverage, millions more are increasingly at risk of losing their coverage, and even those with insurance are facing larger and larger out-of-pocket costs for health care. As these essays show, we can rise above our nation's legacy of failure on health reform and get the job done. -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy At a time when health care reform sits atop the political agenda, this collection of essays ought to be required reading-both for policymakers and for anybody who hopes to influence them. These are some of the sharpest minds in the world of public policy, bringing unique expertise to bear on one of our nation's most pressing social problems. They offer fresh insights while marshaling overwhelming evidence, producing a stirring and compelling call for change. -- Jonathan Cohn, senior editor of the New Republic and author of Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis-and the People Who Pay the Price

Tackles the relationship between the privatization of risk, and focuses on - health care and health insurance; employment insecurity and labor markets; pensions, assets, and social security; the pharmaceuticals industry; and natural disasters and homeland security.In this volume, the nation's leading advisors on health policy and financing appraise America's ailing healthcare system and suggest reasonable approaches to its rehabilitation. Each chapter confronts a major challenge to the country's health security, from runaway costs and uneven quality of care to declining levels of insurance coverage, medical bankruptcy, and the growing enthusiasm for health plans that put patients in charge of risk and cost. Bringing the latest research to bear on these issues, contributors diagnose the problems of our present system and offer treatments grounded in extensive experience. Free of bias and rhetoric, Health at Risk is an invaluable tool for those who are concerned with the current state of healthcare and are eager to effect change.