Health care as a right of citizenship : the continuing evolution of reform / Gunnar Almgren.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

While the Obama administration's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health care coverage for millions of Americans, it has fallen short in offering universal health care to all. In Health Care as a Right of Citizenship , Gunnar Almgren argues that the ACA's primary significance is not in its expansion of health care entitlements but in its affirming by an act of Congress the idea that comprehensive health care must be available to all as a right of citizenship. The mainstream American public now views access to affordable health care to all citizens as a crucial function of just and effective governance--and any proposed alternative to the ACA must be reconciled with that expectation. This ambitious book examines how the American health care system must be further reformed to bring it closer in line with the ideals of a modern democracy, as well as how the ACA may change in the coming years. It suggests the next, natural step in the realization of health and well being as a fundamental human right.

Based on a close analysis of the writings of sociologist TH Marshall and philosopher John Rawls, this book examines the theoretical foundations for health care as a social right of citizenship. Almgren then translates these theoretical principles into core health care policy aims. Throughout, he argues that the ACA is but an evolutionary step toward a more radical and fundamental health care reform. Almgren suggests how such a restructured health care system might operate, with specific proposals for its financing and delivery systems. He also explores the special issues and considerations that all nations must grapple with as they seek to provide a sustainable social right to health care.

Health Care as a Right of Citizenship will stimulate and challenge readers who take an interest in America's health care policy, particularly those who wish for a health care system that is both financially sustainable and capable of making healthcare accessible, adequate, and affordable to all Americans, irrespective of their societal position and individual health needs.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The revolutionary title does justice only to the initial chapters of this well-crafted book. In these, Almgren (Univ. of Washington) mostly recites the left-leaning conventional mantra that health care is essential to achieving "equal opportunity" and "collective prosperity" in a sort of manifesto for universal health care. These chapters are interesting--believers may see their cause reinforced through historical, philosophical, and social theory arguments. Those who think universal health care does not promote welfare or solve inequality may encounter a compendium of arguable commonplaces. The book's second part is dedicated to the financial reforms needed to support universal health care. Mention of the negative externalities that financing universal health care produces in the form of net welfare losses, particularly among those it is meant to protect, would have been welcome. Readers who were happy with the initial manifesto might feel uneasy when the author explores the limits of the right to health care, yet the final sections make it clear that there are limits, even if they are blurry today. In this sense, the title does not reveal the book's contents in all their richness and balance, contents most readers will enjoy, if not for all the same reasons. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals. --Pablo Rodriguez del Pozo, Weill Cornell Medical College