The fourth edition of the essential guide to the contemporary US health care system. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRL Health care reform has been a dominant theme in public discourse for decades now. The passage of the Affordable Care Act was a major milestone, but rather than quell the rhetoric, it has sparked even more heated debate. In the latest edition of Introduction to US Health Policy, Donald A. Barr reviews the current structure of the American health care system, describing the historical and political contexts in which it developed and the core policy issues that continue to confront us today. Barr’s comprehensive analysis explores the various organizations and institutions that make the US health care system work—or fail to work. He describes in detail the paradox of US health care—simultaneously the best in the world and one of the worst among developed countries—while introducing readers to broad cultural issues surrounding health care policy, such as access, affordability, and quality. Barr also discusses specific elements of US health care with depth and nuance, including insurance, especially Medicare and Medicaid. He scrutinizes the shift to for-profit managed care while analyzing the pharmaceutical industry, issues surrounding long-term care, the plight of the uninsured, the prevalence of medical errors, and the troublesome issue of nursing shortages. The thoroughly updated edition of this widely adopted text focuses on the Affordable Care Act. It explains the steps taken to carry out the Act, the changes to the Act based on recent Supreme Court decisions, the success of the Act in achieving the combined goals of improved access to care and constraining the costs of care, and the continuing political controversy regarding its future. Drawing on an extensive range of resources, including government reports, scholarly publications, and analyses from a range of private organizations, Introduction to US Health Policy provides scholars, policymakers, and health care providers with a comprehensive platform of ideas that is key to understanding and influencing the changes in the US health care system.
Why is there such a deep partisan division within the United States regarding how health care should be organized and financed—and how can we encourage politicians to band together again for the good of everyone? For decades, Democratic and Republican political leaders have disagreed about the fundamental goals of American health policy. The modern-day consequences of this disagreement—particularly in the Republicans' campaign to erode the coverage and equity gains of the Affordable Care Act—can be seen in the tragic and disparate impact of COVID-19 on the country. In Crossing the American Health Care Chasm, Donald A. Barr, MD, PhD, details the breakdown in political relations in the United States. Why, he asks, has health policy—which used to be a place where the two sides could find common ground—become the nexus of fiery political conflict? From Harry S. Truman's failed attempt to enact a plan for national health insurance to the recent efforts of President Donald J. Trump, Barr's historical analysis also touches on every presidential administration in between. Tracing the bipartisanship that developed over the four decades following the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, Barr explains why this spirit of cooperation has given way to such a seemingly unbridgeable ideological chasm. Exploring how political conflict affects health care organization, financing, and delivery, Barr also offers a detailed analysis of the multiple attempts on the part of congressional Republicans and the Trump administration either to weaken or to repeal the ACA. Crossing the American Health Care Chasm offers a series of steps that policy makers can take to improve the national health care situation and provide a basis for ongoing bipartisanship as we continue to confront the policy challenges facing our country. Ultimately, Barr argues, this divide is more dangerous than ever at a time when health care costs continue to skyrocket, the number of uninsured Americans is rising, many state governments are chipping away at Medicaid, and the GOP has not let up in its efforts to dismantle the ACA. This book will be of profound interest both to those responsible for carrying out national health care policy and to those who study health policy from an academic perspective.
Challenging students to think critically about the complex web of social forces that leads to health disparities in the United States. The health care system in the United States has been called the best in the world. Yet wide disparities persist between social groups, and many Americans suffer from poorer health than people in other developed countries. In this revised edition of Health Disparities in the United States, Donald A. Barr provides extensive new data about the ways low socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity interact to create and perpetuate these health disparities. Examining the significance of this gulf for the medical community and society at large, Barr offers potential policy- and physician-based solutions for reducing health inequity in the long term. This thoroughly updated edition focuses on a new challenge the United States last experienced more than half a century ago: successive years of declining life expectancy. Barr addresses the causes of this decline, including what are commonly referred to as "deaths of despair"—from opiate overdose or suicide. Exploring the growing role geography plays in health disparities, Barr asks why people living in rural areas suffer the greatest increases in these deaths. He also analyzes recent changes under the Affordable Care Act and considers the literature on how race and ethnicity affect the way health care providers evaluate and treat patients. As both a physician and a sociologist, Barr is uniquely positioned to offer rigorous medical explanations alongside sociological analysis. An essential text for courses in public health, health policy, and sociology, this compelling book is a vital teaching tool and a comprehensive reference for social science and medical professionals.
A droll, delightful taradiddle of tales, anecdotes, and facts about the consuption of liquor in America, and who did what to block that booze from the Rock called Plymouth to the 'rock' called Prohibition. Chidsey, who has written many books, has seldom hit the hilarity gong as he has in this one; and under his wit and irony lurks a serious intent that is just relevant enough to ponder when the fun's over..." -- Publishers Weekly
A vividly exciting, on-the-scene account of the most crucial winter of the American Revolution. You accompany the ragged, hungry American troops as they leave Philadelphia to spend the winter at Valley Forge. You struggle up the hill, help clear the underbrush, and fell the trees to build huts and fortifications. You endure the cold and the hunger, the sickness and the boredom, the lack of the most rudimentary conveniences, and you marvel at the spirit that keeps your fellow Americans from deserting. In contrast, you see the relative luxury of the circumstances enjoyed by the British troops in Philadelphia. Then you see the start of the moves that will ultimately result in victory: the near disruption of the British fleet at Philadelphia by the world’s first submarine and floating mines; experienced foreign officers joining the American cause; the drilling of troops for effective combat, and the declaration of war by France. Finally, you share in the long awaited triumph when camp is disbanded and the American army chases the British across New Jersey.
When the police arrested Harry Sauer, a hitch-hiker carrying a knife and a briefcase full of loot, they got out their rubber hoses and went to work on a deep mystery. A classic pulp story from Detective Story Classics, January 6, 1934.
Donald Barr Chidsey brings his amazing and widely acknowledged skills as a popular historian to bear on one of those controversial American wars-perplexing, colorful, at times brutal, often devastating. It was in protest against the war with Mexico that Henry David Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax, and wrote his famous essay "Civil Disobedience." In extraordinarily vivid terms, Chidsey re-creates the wanton massacre of a whole company of American troops, the heroic defense and fall of the Alamo, the dramatic battles of Buena Vista and Vera Cruz, and the invasion of Mexico, culminating in the storming of Chapultepec and entrance into Mexico City itself. Sam Houston, the enigmatic and powerful Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Zachary Taylor, Jose Herrera, General Winfield Scott, James K. Polk, and others in the forefront of battles and behind the scenes, and here, too-seen with all the intimate detail that has made Donald Barr Chidsey unsurpassed in his field.
On the pleasure boats of the Old Mississippi, passions ran high when men gambled for the favors of beautiful women -- and renegades carried off girls along with other loot. Disguised as a notorious outlaw, hot-blooded Dave Macdonough invaded the river rogues' hideout in a reckless attempt to destroy them. But his mission became an act of persona! vengeance when he met the lovely swamp water girl who was their captive mistress.
The Panama Canal: An Informal History of Its Concept, Building, and Present Status" relates the struggles, conflicts, obstacles, and achievement involved in the construction of the canal. Originally published in 1970, this ebook edition retains all of the photos, drawings, and illustrations of the original edition. A fascinating and detailed history of the Panama Canal!
Donald Barr Chidsey brings his amazing and widely acknowledged skills as a popular historian to bear on one of those controversial American wars-perplexing, colorful, at times brutal, often devastating. It was in protest against the war with Mexico that Henry David Thoreau refused to pay his poll tax, and wrote his famous essay "Civil Disobedience." In extraordinarily vivid terms, Chidsey re-creates the wanton massacre of a whole company of American troops, the heroic defense and fall of the Alamo, the dramatic battles of Buena Vista and Vera Cruz, and the invasion of Mexico, culminating in the storming of Chapultepec and entrance into Mexico City itself. Sam Houston, the enigmatic and powerful Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Zachary Taylor, Jose Herrera, General Winfield Scott, James K. Polk, and others in the forefront of battles and behind the scenes, and here, too-seen with all the intimate detail that has made Donald Barr Chidsey unsurpassed in his field.
If you like pirate novels, you'll enjoy Donald Barr Chidsey's MAROONED — a real swashbuckling adventure of buccaneering to match the best. Here are the rakish ships that fly the Jolly Roger, the men who swear by the pirates' code, the governor sworn to vengeance, and the fair maidens held for ransom. This is the story of Alan Waite, pirate and anti-pirate. Scum of the sea to some, a hero to his women, he is the kind of reckless sea-rover every reader will thrill to follow down the Spanish Main!
Understanding human behavior is essential if medical students and doctors are to provide more effective health care. While 40 percent of premature deaths in the United States can be attributed to such dangerous behaviors as smoking, overeating, inactivity, and drug or alcohol use, medical education has generally failed to address how these behaviors are influenced by social forces. This new textbook from Dr. Donald A. Barr was designed in response to the growing recognition that physicians need to understand the biosocial sciences behind human behavior in order to be effective practitioners. Introduction to Biosocial Medicine explains the determinants of human behavior and the overwhelming impact of behavior on health. Drawing on both recent and historical research, the book combines the study of the biology of humans with the social and psychological aspects of human behavior. Dr. Barr, a sociologist as well as physician, illustrates how the biology of neurons, the intricacies of the human mind, and the power of broad social forces all influence individual perceptions and responses. Addressing the enormous potential of interventions from medical and public health professionals to alter these patterns of human behavior over time, Introduction to Biosocial Medicine brings necessary depth and perspective to medical training and education.
A more unlikely Founding Father it would be hard to imagine. Samuel Adams, in appearance, was an extraordinarily ordinary man, a man unskillfully put together. Thus begins Donald Barr Chidsey's extraordinarily readable biography of the man he describes as the grandfather of his country, the man who laid the foundation. Adams, he tells us, was America's first machine politician, but he made "independence" a word to be respected. Here is the story of how Adams did it. It is also the story of a city, Boston, in those years between the end of the French and Indian War and the Second Continental Congress, a time when the docile English colonies turned into a nest of seething rebellion, a time when "that bainfull weed," tea, assumed outrageous importance, a time when the Sons of Liberty intimidated those who disagreed with them with the threat of tar and feathers. Adams and his contemperporaries step off these pages as large as life: Sam's cousin John, "the pugnacious second President of the United states," who "burned with indignation at all times"; William Pitt, adored in the American colonies, but a leader who led nobody in England; John Hancock, the richest man in New England, a peacock who "strutted and swished, iridescent, admiring himself"; Benjamin Franklin, a man with a twinkle in his eye; Sam Gray, whose rude remark to a soldier eventually led to the Boston Massacre; Captain Thomas Preston, who tried to prevent it. Told with honesty and wit, this book presents a biting picture of a turbulent time, with an affectionate portrait of Samuel Adams as its center, and a cast of characters important in early American life, who made up his world.
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