An Introduction to the US Health Care System

by Steven Jonas, Raymond L. Goldsteen, Karen Goldsteen

Completely expanded and updated to account for the latest changes in the U.S. health care system, this best-selling text remains the most concise and balanced introduction to the domestic health care system. Like its predecessors, it provides an accessible overview of the basic components of the system: healthcare personnel, hospitals and other institutions, the federal government, financing and payment mechanisms, and managed care. Finally, it provides an insightful look at the prospects for health care reform.

Steven Jonas, a revered expert in public health, has enlisted his colleagues, Drs. Raymond and Karen Goldsteen, to add their expertise in public health and health policy and management to this outstanding volume. All students of health care administration and policy, as well as practicing healthcare professionals who simply want a relatively brief overview of the system, will find it useful.

Genres: Business, Reference, Nonfiction, Health, Health Care

308 pages, Paperback

Published May 25, 2007

About the author

Dr. Steven Jonas is Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine, and the Program in Public Health, at Stony Brook University. He served at Stony Brook Medicine for 43 years, 1971-2014. He has published 17 books on topics ranging from public health textbooks to sports medicine, diet, and triathlon books.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worse than the worst textbook I was ever forced to read in school. And that's saying a lot.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading for work. So far: not very exhilarating.

[Bri_laughs_a_lot. · Rating 1 out of 5]

TERRIBLE. Even for a textbook this was a dry read that put me right to sleep.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst textbook I've ever read for, concordantly, the worst class I've taken in my program so far. It is extremely dry, statistics heavy and dull. As someone else mentioned it's also very biased- regardless of which way you lean politically a text book isn't the place to voice those opinions. Absolutely hated slogging through this.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A readable, but very basic, introduction to the world of US healthcare. Most facts and figures in the book are from 2003/2004, which may seem dated in light of the election and economic downturn of 2008. The book isn't as long as it appears--it's loaded with citations and pages of references after each chapter. Recommended as a good starting place if you know nothing about healthcare in America; if you do understand the fundamentals, however, skip this and just pick up a newspaper for a much more up-to-date picture of this evolving industry.

[Coral Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for work. Boring, and hilariously biased against all Republican administrations. I think there is a time and a place to let your political leanings hang out, and writing a textbook shouldn't be one of them.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book deserves zero stars, but if I gave it zero it would look like I just didn't bother rating it. There's no way I would have read this if someone wasn't paying me (I had to read it for work).