Disease, Diagnoses, and Dollars

Here's a conundrum: the U.S. health care system is the largest sector in the biggest economy in the world, and the US spends significantly more per capita on health care than any other country. Yet it ranks last among comparison nations on the major health indicators. Robert Kaplan attempts to tackle these anomalies head-on by taking the controversial position that mass markets have been created for services that may offer little or no benefit to patients. Kaplan forcefully argues that the overuse of medications and tests runs up the costs of health care, and offers potential solutions for policy makers and for patients.

Disease, Diagnoses, and Dollars Facing the Ever-Expanding Market for Medical Care Robert M. Kaplan, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA Close to 50 Million Uninsured, Steeply Rising Insurance Premiums, Employers Cutting Healthcare Benefits . . . There's plenty wrong with this picture. In Disease, Diagnoses, and Dollars, public health expert Robert Kaplan takes America's healthcare industry to task and challenges readers to examine their own roles in it. Provocative, timely, and comprehensively researched, this book analyzes the current healthcare crisis in terms of medical culture, economics, and advertising. The findings reveal a system fraught with conflicts-contradictory healthcare policies, providers who over-test and over-prescribe, patients with unrealistic demands fueled by the media-and throughout, an absence of accountability. Much of preventive medicine, Kaplan persuasively argues, comes down to the selling of expensive pills and procedures that drive up costs while subjecting the population to unneeded risks and complications. And the end result, he argues, is excess care for many people, and a dearth of care for many more. Kaplan's informed, practical, and constructive approach makes Disease, Diagnoses, and Dollars a "must-read" volume for policymakers and professionals in public health and healthcare, and for business owners as well as ordinary citizens and consumers concerned with the viability of healthcare in America.

Chapter 1: Disease, Drugs and Money.- Chapter 2: The Disease-Reservoir Hypothesis.- Chapter 3: Mental Models of Health and Healthcare.- Chapter 4: What is Disease and When does it Begin?.- Chapter 5: Screening for Cancer.- Chapter 6: Deciding When Blood Pressure Is Too High.- Chapter 7: The Cholesterol Cutoff.- Chapter 8: Diabetes, Obesity, and the Metabolic Syndrome.- Chapter 9: Costs-Effectiveness and Opportunity Costs.- Chapter 10: Shared Medical Decision-Making.- Chapter 11: Putting the Pieces Together.