Health policy Book

	Foreword	xi
	Introduction	xiii
	Acknowledgements	xvi
Part I	Health Status and Access to Care	1
Chapter 1	Health Status of the Population and Vulnerable Groups	5
	Actual Causes of Death in the United States	6
	The Role of Socioeconomic Status Gradients in Explaining Differences in U.S. Adolescents' Health	18
	The Role of Race/Ethnicity and Social Class in Minority Health Status	29
	Socioeconomic Inequalities in Women's Health	37
	Who Are "the Homeless"? Reconsidering the Stability and Composition of the Homeless Population	45
	Mind Matters: The Importance of Mental Disorders in Public Health's 21st Century Mission	50
Chapter 2	Access to Care	55
	The Uninsured and their Health: Micro-Level Issues	56
	Going Bare: Trends in Health Insurance Coverage, 1989 Through 1996	65
	Health Insurance Coverage After Welfare	74
	The Changing Landscape of Health Care Financing and Delivery: How Are Rural Communities and Providers Responding?	82
	Older Women's Health and Access to Care	89
Chapter 3	Aging and Long-Term Care	95
	Critical Perspectives on Health and Aging	96
	The Uncertain Future of Home Care	102
	The Regulation and Enforcement of Federal Nursing Home Standards, 1991-1997	114
Part II	Health Care Delivery System Issues	127
Chapter 4	Organizational Change	131
	Mergers and Acquisitions--Who Benefits? Who Loses?	132
	Medical-Industrial Complex	136
	The Changing U.S. Health Care System: Challenges for Responsible Public Policy	149
	Hospital Organization and Outcomes	163
Chapter 5	Labor Issues	171
	The Hidden Health Care Workforce: Executive Summary	172
	Safe Staffing Law Puts California Nurses in the Spotlight	176
	Medical Care Employment in the United States, 1968 to 1993: The Importance of Health Sector Jobs for African Americans and Women	179
	Slow Growth in the United States of the Number of Minorities in the RN Workforce	186
	Health Care Reform: Its Effects on Nurses	193
Chapter 6	Quality of Care	201
	To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System: Executive Summary	202
	Nurse Staffing Levels and Adverse Events Following Surgery in U.S. Hospitals	214
	Quality of Care in Investor-Owned vs. Not-for-Profit HMOs	223
	Experts Recommend Minimum Nurse Staffing Standards for Nursing Facilities in the United States	230
Part III	The Economics of Health Care	245
Chapter 7	Financing Health Care	249
	When Money is the Mission: The High Costs of Investor-Owned Care	250
	Health Spending in 1998: Signals of Change	254
	Economic Analysis in Health Care	263
Chapter 8	Public Financing	275
	Access to Care: How Much Difference Does Medicaid Make?	276
	Rebuilding Medicare for the 21st Century: A Challenge for the Medicare Commission and Congress	284
	The Difference Different Approaches Make: Comparing Proposals to Expand Health Insurance	298
Chapter 9	Private Insurance and Managed Care	315
	The Practice and Ethics of Risk-Related Health Insurance	316
	Demistifying Policy Jargon: ERISA	324
	Health Care Organizational Change: Implications for Access to Care and Its Measurement	326
	The New Dominance of Managed Care: Insurance Trends in the 1990s	341
Part IV	Reforming the U.S. Health Care System	353
Chapter 10	Health Politics and Political Action	357
	Health Policy Through the Looking Glass	358
	Primer on Policy: The Legislative Process at the Federal Level	370
	Can Meaningful Health Policy Be Developed in a Political System?	373
	Nurse, Interrupted: The Other Health Care Crisis	383
	Why Congress Did Not Enact Health Care Reform	391
	National Health Insurance in the United States: A Drama in Too Many Acts	397
Chapter 11	International Health Systems	413
	What Is Right About the Canadian Health Care System?	414
	Health Spending, Access, and Outcomes: Trends in Industrialized Countries	417
	Competition, Cooperation, or Control? Tales from the British National Health Service	428
	The Global Burden of Mental Disorders	437
Chapter 12	Health Reform for the Future	445
	Fostering Justice-based Health Care System	446
	A National Health Program for the United States: A Physicians' Proposal	455
	Health and Equity in the World in the Era of "Globalization"	467
	Conclusions	477
	Glossary	479
	Index	485