The Brave New World of Health Care

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Brave enough to read this book?

Ethics and Economics - an American Challenge

Endorsement for: THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF HEALTH CARE

Darwinism in action

Political science & public policy blend in serious discourse

The Brave New World of Health Care
Richard D. Lamm
Manufacturer: Fulcrum Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555915108

Book Description

Long a target of policymakers and reformers, the current American healthcare system is, in the words of Richard D. Lamm, "unsustainable, unaffordable, and inequitable, and needs to be substantially amended and revised." In this informed and erudite look at the current state of the American healthcare system, Lamm exposes the problems existing not only in policy and professional circles, but also in public attitudes and expectations. In so doing, Lamm provides a framework for reform, seeking to rebuild the "house of healthcare" that has fallen into disrepair.

Customer Reviews:

Brave enough to read this book? .......2005-05-12

Richard D. Lamm, former three-term governor of Colorado, has written a thought-provoking book, which should be required reading for any American who pays taxes or who will some day get sick. America, some of its citizens often proclaim, has the "best health care system in the world." Not so, Lamm argues: our medical miracles are parceled out to certain segments of society while forty-plus million Americans lack basic health care. Public health statistics consistently show the US lagging behind other developed countries in terms of life expectancy and infant mortality. Lamm uses the data to support his contention in this book that "The time has come to ask--and answer--some hard questions about how American health care dollars are actually being spent and about what we as a society are getting for that expenditure."

Lamm should be commended for speaking forcefully and passionately on this subject. He addresses health-care rationing, allocation of public monies, the need for society to accept the inevitability of death, and the need for government to intercede in medical education (directing schools to train more primary care physicians as opposed to the preponderance of specialists we now have). The book is readable even for people unfamiliar with health care policy and economic theories. Numerous sidebars offer encapsulations of important concepts and statistics. He has a gift for explaining the conflict in easily understandable prose. He also leavens his harsh pronouncements with pithy comments, such as when he refers to former President Clinton's avowed goal of fighting all deadly diseases and writes,"What are we going to die of, rust?" His forthright voice makes one wonder how he ever got elected to public office.

The author concludes with a strategy for addressing our national health care crisis. If enough people read The Brave New World of Health Care, we the people may start to find our way out of what this former governor convincingly paints as an ever-deepening moral and financial morass facing the health of our society and its citizens.

Ethics and Economics - an American Challenge.......2004-07-09

Lamm clearly shows that the US health care system puts priority higher on the ethics of personal medical practice than it does on the overall health of the US population. Our (US) system is provider driven, which results in defensive medicine and over treatments. "Long shot" medical practice costs us: 27 percent of costs are for the sickest 1 percent. US spends about 50 percent more per person than other developed countries spend. Why? Says Lamm: "We fund too much marginal medicine and fail to fund enough basic health care. We spend too much on high technology medicine and not enough on prevention." This amounts to spending the budget to save a few trees while the forest gets weak and sick.

The need exists to set limits on treatments, so that more people are more healthy and costs can be maintained, as European countries have done. This book does not claim to have all of the answers, but does challenge Americans to begin an honest debate of ethics vs costs.

We should listen to his challenge. Buy this book now, before your medical costs get too high for you to afford it.

Endorsement for: THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF HEALTH CARE.......2004-06-16

What health care nightmare has your name on it? The United States is $7 trillion in debt. Consumer debt exceeds $2 trillion. The average American credit card carries an $8,000.00 balance. As baby boomers eat and age their way into a health care pile up in the next 10 years, our health care industry recoils against horrific odds in providing for millions of Americans. Not withstanding, millions of legal and illegal immigrants have not and did not pay into a system they use today. Millions of uninsured Americans suffer.

Governor Lamm, once again, identifies what is happening across the United States. He offers solutions that, if ignored, all Americans stand to suffer in the long term.

Darwinism in action.......2004-05-13

I give Governor Lamm two stars for trying to devise a solution to one of the most difficult public policy issues of our time. But his solution is horrific.

He advocates a health care rationing plan in which, in effect, those who are sickest will be jettisoned in favor of those who are somewhat sick or not sick at all. It's not just social Darwinism, which deems poverty to be proof that those who are poor are inherently defective, that is, unfit to survive and therefore beyond help. This is Darwnism at its purest: the unhealthy are by definition unworthy of society's limited resources. Call it the life-raft approach. "Let's throw off the raft those we deem less likely to survive in order to improve the chances of those we believe more likely to survive." As Scrooge might put it, those who are in danger of dying "had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

It's not unlike the day when lepers were segregated into colonies. Merely a short step away is killing the unhealthy to prevent them from consuming any more of our limited health care dollars. Unthinkable? Germans didn't think that making Jews wear yellow stars would lead to their deliberate slaughter. Many people don't know that Hitler deemed the disabled as unfit for German society as Jews and slaughtered millions of disabled people as well.

As you might imagine, I fall among the disabled. Through no fault of mine, multiple sclerosis has ravaged my middle-aged body. And it chills me to think that, under Lamm's "divert resources toward the fit" rationing, a healthy young serial murderer would get a liver transplant before I would. Moreover, researchers would have no incentive to find ways to reverse existing damage; when resources are explicitly diverted toward preserving health and preventing illness, doctors would be idiots to work toward treatments that fall far down on the list of health care priorities.

Lamm correctly points out that we implicitly ration health care today. Those with insurance get more care than those without. But at least those without insurance can hope to get it someday. Nothing in the world will make a disabled person fit to compete against the young and healthy for health care.

Lamm has framed the problem well. We do need an explicit method of rationing health care. But we need a lot more debate on the ethics of such a plan before we deem one segment of society irredeemably beyond its pale.

Political science & public policy blend in serious discourse.......2004-05-06

Political science and public policy blend in a serious discourse by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who takes a fresh look at the current state of the American health care system in Brave New World Of Health Care. Problems in policy, professional circle, and in public attitudes and expectations alike are deftly surveyed in an engagingly thoughtful discussion of how reforms and changes may be enacted.

A brave new world of treatment: interview with Barry Karlin, PhD, Chairman and CEO, eGetgoing. (Feature Article).: An article from: Behavioral Health Management

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A brave new world of treatment: interview with Barry Karlin, PhD, Chairman and CEO, eGetgoing. (Feature Article).: An article from: Behavioral Health Management

Manufacturer: Medquest Communications, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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This digital document is an article from Behavioral Health Management, published by Medquest Communications, LLC on November 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1316 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A brave new world of treatment: interview with Barry Karlin, PhD, Chairman and CEO, eGetgoing. (Feature Article).
Publication: Behavioral Health Management (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Medquest Communications, LLC
Volume: 21 Issue: 6 Page: 39(3)

Article Type: Interview

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Brave new world: dancers and choreographers on surviving and thriving with HIV. : An article from: Dance Magazine

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Brave new world: dancers and choreographers on surviving and thriving with HIV. : An article from: Dance Magazine
Joseph Carman
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

AIDS | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: B000DZVEKW
Release Date: 2005-12-20

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Dance Magazine, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1692 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Brave new world: dancers and choreographers on surviving and thriving with HIV.
Author: Joseph Carman
Publication: Dance Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 79 Issue: 12 Page: 70(6)

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A brave, new laboratory world: the future of stem cells and lab medicine.(CLINICAL ISSUES) : An article from: Medical Laboratory Observer

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A brave, new laboratory world: the future of stem cells and lab medicine.(CLINICAL ISSUES) : An article from: Medical Laboratory Observer
Anthony S. Kurec
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Medical Laboratory Observer, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1154 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A brave, new laboratory world: the future of stem cells and lab medicine.(CLINICAL ISSUES)
Author: Anthony S. Kurec
Publication: Medical Laboratory Observer (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 37 Issue: 10 Page: 22(2)

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Caretaker in a brave new world: ScrippsHealth's CEO finds himself in the middle of a closely viewed petri dish. (Ames Early): An article from: San Diego Business Journal

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Caretaker in a brave new world: ScrippsHealth's CEO finds himself in the middle of a closely viewed petri dish. (Ames Early): An article from: San Diego Business Journal
Richard Acello
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from San Diego Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on November 11, 1996. The length of the article is 1241 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Caretaker in a brave new world: ScrippsHealth's CEO finds himself in the middle of a closely viewed petri dish. (Ames Early)
Author: Richard Acello
Publication: San Diego Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 11, 1996
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: v17 Issue: n46 Page: p9(1)

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EDUCATING SOCIAL WORKERS FOR HEALTH CARE'S BRAVE NEW WORLD.: An article from: Journal of Social Work Education

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EDUCATING SOCIAL WORKERS FOR HEALTH CARE'S BRAVE NEW WORLD.: An article from: Journal of Social Work Education
Betsy S. Vourlekis , Kathleen Ell , and Deborah Padgett
Manufacturer: Council On Social Work Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Social Work Education, published by Council On Social Work Education on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 8167 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: A transforming health care system challenges educators to formulate curriculum that is relevant and anticipates evolving expectations and demands. This article reviews key features of the changing health care landscape, describes a Centers for Disease Control funded prototypical social work practice model designed to fit the contours of that landscape, and suggests five fundamental principles to guide successful adaptation of social work health care practice and educational preparation. Curricular implications of these principles are discussed.

Citation Details
Title: EDUCATING SOCIAL WORKERS FOR HEALTH CARE'S BRAVE NEW WORLD.
Author: Betsy S. Vourlekis
Publication: Journal of Social Work Education (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: Council On Social Work Education
Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Page: 177

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Tissue engineers see brave new world ahead. (profile of Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc.)(Company Profile): An article from: San Diego Business Journal
Marion Webb
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from San Diego Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on September 21, 1998. The length of the article is 1236 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Tissue engineers see brave new world ahead. (profile of Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc.)(Company Profile)
Author: Marion Webb
Publication: San Diego Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 21, 1998
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: v19 Issue: n38 Page: p1(2)

Article Type: Company Profile

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Brave New World of Health Care
Richard Lamm
Manufacturer: Fulcrum Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NP3R7K

Amazon.com

The image of salmon battling upstream through whitewater cataracts to spawn in their birthplace is integral to any happy vision of the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, because they face more insidious obstacles than swift currents, few people today actually witness this remarkable spectacle. Armed with exhaustive research and an ability to synthesize his findings into a concise, readable indictment of the status quo, Jim Lichatowich, a fisheries scientist for 30 years, traces the sudden decline of Northwest salmon populations following the onset of Euro-American settlement. He points a finger at the usual suspects: logging, mining, damming, grazing, irrigation, commercial fishing, and development. Moreover, he cites the political establishment for a failure of nerve. Since the shift from a Native American "gift" economy based on sustainability to a profit economy based on self-interest and short-term financial gain, the historically resilient salmon have met one adversary after another, with little or no help from the legal apparatus charged with their protection. In fact, federal and state governments have responded to the deepening crisis mainly by building fish hatcheries up and down the West Coast. Contrary to the beliefs of entrenched bureaucrats and sport fishermen, says Lichatowich, hatcheries have merely diluted the gene pools of wild stocks while allowing resource extractors to continue their multifarious operations and politicians to shirk their responsibilities. In 1960, for instance, after decades of declining runs, the Washington Department of Fisheries reported, incredibly (and characteristically), that new advanced management techniques would soon result in "salmon without a river"--more welcome news to those who would continue to exploit these iconic fish and their habitat. At the dawn of the 21st century hundreds of hatcheries still operate, yet Northwest salmon populations have decreased 95 percent.

Lichatowich is a learned and persuasive advocate for wild salmon. He's also eloquent, as in this description of his first visit to the Columbia River's Grand Coulee dam:

As I sat there wondering and swatting mosquitoes, the face of the dam lit up. It was the start of the nightly laser show.... Appropriately, the lasers sent a series of large green dollar signs floating through the darkness. Then a series of laser salmon swam across the face of the dam. Here were the ideal salmon, I thought, the fish that fit perfectly into our worldview. We have complete control over them--press a button and they appear; press another and they change from green to red; press another and they swim over the dam. Salmon and dams are compatible--as long as you are not particular about the kind of salmon.

So what to do? Lichatowich opines that we need a new "worldview," one that places natural resources within a context of respect and sustainability. He looks to state and federal governments to enforce the protections already granted by laws like the Endangered Species Act. And he sees evidence that public perceptions may be changing on such issues as habitat conservation and biodiversity; breaching four dams on the lower Snake River to aid fish passage would have been unthinkable even in the early 1990s. Whether this new worldview can save salmon in time is another question. --Langdon Cook

Book Description

"Fundamentally, the salmon's decline has been the consequence of a vision based on flawed assumptions and unchallenged myths.... We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introduction

From a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region.

In Salmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book:

describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million years
considers the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of years
examines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeans
presents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmon
offers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failed

Throughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

Customer Reviews:

Peter Morrison.......2005-09-11

This is a must read book for anyone interested in salmon, rivers and the ecology and history of the Pacific Northwest. Excellent information and a good read.

Great read.......2005-08-02

This is an excellent book that documents the history of salmon, how native Americans viewed them and how modern Americans view them. It focuses on why the pacific northwest is facing a salmon crisis, and our failed attempts to replace what we have lost. Great read for anyone who is concerned about environmental issues.

Pacific Northwest Salmon History Book.......2003-12-02

Salmon Without Rivers is a great book of historical facts. It includes many issues like; original salmon locations/populations, "Economy over Environment" issues, and the ineffectiveness of large decision making commissions/agencies. However, with all his good background information the book does not propose any solutions nor investigates today's coastal human communities as they relate to the salmon and/or habitat.

A captivating, human, informed book.......2001-01-16

As a freelance author writing a piece about salmon for a California-based magazine, this book was indispensible and eye-opening. It is unfailingly sensitive and intelligent about salmon, discussing the fish as fellow creatures in the "natural economy" in which we all live, rather than as mere commodities in the "industrial economy" that has transformed the West in the last 150 years. It is fascinating about the geology that shaped the salmon's environment, the evolutionary history of the fish, the relationship between Native Americans and salmon in the Northwest, and it provides a detailed history of the many factors that have led to the salmon's decline, including habitat destruction, misbegotten hatchery programs, overfishing, dams, mining, grazing, irrigation. If you like to read books about ecology, the creatures of the earth, fish, or the Northwest--you can't go wrong. This is a wonderful book.

Save the salmon and us.......2000-12-24

A thoroughly researched and impassioned presentation including the history of salmon, their decline, why billions of tax dollars in restoration efforts have had paltry returns, and insights into the where we should go from here. A complex issue is examined from many perspectives in an easy to read and compelling book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in salmon.

Free the fish.(salmon)(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Issues in Science and Technology

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Free the fish.(salmon)(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Issues in Science and Technology
John M. Volkman
Manufacturer: National Academy of Sciences
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Issues in Science and Technology, published by National Academy of Sciences on December 22, 1999. The length of the article is 1783 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Free the fish.(salmon)(Review) (book reviews)
Author: John M. Volkman
Publication: Issues in Science and Technology (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 1999
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Page: 92

Article Type: Book Review

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Salmon: an Environmental Tragedy in Two Acts.(Review): An article from: American Scientist

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Salmon: an Environmental Tragedy in Two Acts.(Review): An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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