| Foreword | xiii |
| Prologue | xv |
| Acknowledgments | xix |
| Introduction: Confronting the Myths: Can America Halt the Slide Toward Health Care Meltdown? | 1 |
| Our Poor Performance and Perverse Incentives | |
| The Search for a Comprehensive Solution | |
| Getting America Clued In | |
| "One Risk Pool"/ National Health Insurance | |
| Part I | The Problem A Wasteful, Dysfunctional System and a Nation Kept Clueless | |
| Chapter 1 | Myths, Misinformation, and the Pursuit of Profit | 13 |
| A Myriad of Myths | |
| Myth #1 | Everybody Has Access to Care Through the Emergency Room | |
| Myth #2 | We Don't Need to Fix What's Not Broken | |
| Myth #3 | "The Market" Is the Solution | |
| Myth #4 | Private Is Always Better than Public | |
| Myth #5 | Medicare Is Going Broke | |
| Myth #6 | We Can't Afford Universal Coverage | |
| Myth #7 | Americans Don't Want Rationing of Health Care | |
| Myth #8 | We Don't Want Socialized Medicine Like in Canada | |
| Myth #9 | The Insured Pay More To Help Cover the Costs of the Uninsured | |
| Myth #10 | Universal Coverage Will Overburden Our System | |
| Myth #11 | Costs of Research and Development Drive Our Higher Drug Prices | |
| Myth #12 | We Can Get to Universal Coverage Through Incremental Changes | |
| Myth #13 | Americans Won't Accept Single-Payer Universal Coverage | |
| Chapter 2 | America's Health Care: The Monster We Have Created | 47 |
| Managed Care vs. Managed Cost: "Crazy Making" | |
| Unrealistic Expectations | |
| Ignorance of the Costs | |
| The Paperwork Nightmare | |
| Fraud and Abuse | |
| The Paperwork Could Get Worse | |
| Underutilization/Overutilization | |
| (1) | The "Underutilizers" | |
| (2) | The "Overutilizers" | |
| Chapter 3 | Monster II: Perverse Incentives Lead to Bizarre Outcomes | 67 |
| There's "Gold in Them 'Thar' Patients" | |
| Creating the Demand: The Sky's the Limit | |
| The Ultimate Overutilization: "Boutique Medicine" for the Very Rich | |
| Opting Out: An American Privilege? | |
| Competition vs. Cooperation | |
| Prevention vs. Cure | |
| The Malpractice Conundrum | |
| Employer-Based Insurance: An Anomaly | |
| More Perverse Incentives for Providers and Patients Alike | |
| The Mental Health Scam | |
| The Patient Comes Last | |
| The Market vs. the Patient | |
| Chapter 4 | Delayed Care: Rationing American Style | 90 |
| The Mantra of "Personal Responsibility" | |
| Some Terrible Consequences of Delayed Care | |
| Chapter 5 | Jumping Hoops for the Uninsured: Caring for Patients at a Community Health Center | 97 |
| Why They Don't Come In | |
| The Medical Visit, Prescriptions, and Tests: Games We Play | |
| A Patchwork of Arrangements to Get Care | |
| Why Do Our Patients Think We Don't Have Universal Coverage? | |
| The Positive Side of Working With the Uninsured | |
| Chapter 6 | Squeezing the Patient: Co-Pays and Deductibles | 110 |
| Why Do Physicians Support Co-Pays? | |
| Co-Pays That Hurt | |
| The "Safety Net" and Co-Pays | |
| The Larger Picture | |
| Chapter 7 | Religion and Health Care Reform: "Personal Responsibility" vs. Caring for the Needy | 120 |
| How "The Market" Has Overridden Religion | |
| The Role of "Personal Responsibility" | |
| Free Clinics and WWJD | |
| Health Care as a Human Right in the U.S.? | |
| Chapter 8 | Public Health: We're All on This Planet Together | 130 |
| Public Health and Chronic Disease | |
| The New Twist to Wake Us Up: Bioterrorism | |
| Chapter 9 | Blaming the Victim: A Bad Rap for Medicare | 136 |
| Medicare as the Victim | |
| Expanding and Improving Medicare | |
| Chapter 10 | We Don't Want a Health Care System Like They Have in Those Foreign Countries | 142 |
| Americans are Clueless on What Happens | |
| In Other Countries | |
| Our Much-Maligned Neighbor to the North | |
| Our Ranking in the World | |
| Part II | Towards Finding a Solution | |
| Chapter 11 | The Price of Health: How Much Should We Americans Be Spending on Health Care? | 153 |
| The "Good Old Days" Are Over | |
| Costs Are Going Up, Up, Up | |
| Ethics--and Profits vs. Patients | |
| "Expecting the World" | |
| The Future, Technology, and Costs | |
| The Answer Needs to Come From the People | |
| Chapter 12 | Don Quixote vs. the Establishment: Can the Medical-Industrial Complex Be Toppled? | 169 |
| "The Evil Empire": How Bad Is It? | |
| Toppling the Windmills | |
| Appealing to Self-Interest--Does It Have a Chance? | |
| The Drug Barons | |
| The Camelots of Health Care | |
| The Lords of Medicine | |
| Tilting at Windmills From Beyond the Medical Establishment | |
| Chapter 13 | In Search of a "Uniquely American" Solution to Health Care for All | 183 |
| Universal Uninsurance | |
| What About Poor Folks? Charity Care to the Rescue | |
| Potential Obstacles to Universal Uninsurance | |
| The Sad Truth: Fantasy May Resemble Reality | |
| Chapter 14 | Grassroots for Health Care for All: What Can Americans Do to Claim a Right to Health Care? | 191 |
| Timing and the Changing Battlefield | |
| Groups, Old and New, Promoting Health Care for All | |
| The Community-Based Efforts | |
| More Talk, Less Progress? | |
| What Specific Actions Steps Will It Take to Motivate Grassroots America? | |
| Chapter 15 | National Health Insurance or Medicare for All: A Reality in Our Lifetime? | 206 |
| It's Become Fashionable to Talk About Universal Coverage | |
| Why Don't the People Who Know Better Do Something? | |
| The Naysayers' Logic | |
| Chapter 16 | "Single Payer Will Not Fly": A Response | 216 |
| Does "Incremental" Have a Chance? | |
| How About Affordability for the Patient? | |
| "Best" vs. "Better": In Search of Value for Our Money | |
| Chapter 17 | Needed for Affordable and Effective Health Care Reform in America: A Paradigm Shift for Prevention | 222 |
| A Prime Example: America's Epidemic of Obesity | |
| What Are the Side Effects of Making Exercise "Mainstream"? | |
| Action Steps to "Put Prevention Into America" | |
| Chapter 18 | Epilogue: Beyond Universal Coverage | 234 |
| Assuring Adequate Coverage | |
| Reclaiming Dignity | |
| Keeping America Clueless | |
| The Global Picture | |
| Steps We Must Take as a Responsible Nation to Improve the Health of Our Communities | |
| Afterword | 245 |
| Notes | 249 |
| Selected Bibliography | 261 |
| Appendix | Frequently Asked Questions About "One Risk Pool" | 269 |
| Glossary of Terms | 273 |
| Index | 275 |
| About the Author | 281 |
