Who Shall Live?

Fuchs

ISBN 10: 0465091865 ISBN 13: 9780465091867

Publisher: Basic Books, 1983

Synopsis

In this classic book, Professor Victor Fuchs draws on his deep understanding of the strengths and limitations of economics and his intimate knowledge of health care institutions to help readers understand the problems every nation faces in trying to allocate health resources efficiently and equitably. Six complementary papers dealing with national health insurance, poverty and health, and other policy issues, including his 1996 presidential address to the American Economic Association, accompany the original 1974 text. Health professionals, policy makers, social scientists, students and concerned citizens will all benefit from this highly readable, authoritative, and nuanced discussion of the difficult choices that lie ahead.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Since the first edition of Who Shall Live? (1974) over 100,000 students, teachers, physicians, and general readers from more than a dozen fields have found this book to be a reader-friendly, authoritative introduction to economic concepts applied to health and medical care. Fuchs provides clear explanations and memorable examples of the importance of the non-medical determinants of health, the dominant role of physicians in health care expenditures, the necessity of choices about health at the individual and societal levels, and many other compelling themes.

Now, in a new introduction of some 8,000 words including new tables and figures, Fuchs, often called the "Dean of health economists," concisely summarizes the major changes of the past 37 years in health, medical care, and health policy. He focuses primarily on the United States but includes remarks about health policy in other countries, and addresses the question of whether national health care systems are becoming more alike. In addition to reviewing changes, the introduction explains why health expenditures grow so rapidly, why health spending in the United States is so much greater than in other countries, and what physicians need in order to practice cost-effective medicine.

This second expanded edition also includes recent papers by Fuchs on the economics of aging, the socio-economic correlates of health, the future of health economics, and his policy recommendations for the United States to secure universal coverage, control of costs, and improvement in the quality of care. As was true of the first expanded edition (1998), this book will be welcomed by current students and life-long learners in economics, other social and behavioral sciences, medicine, public health, law, business, public policy, and other fields who want to understand the relation between health, economics, and social choice.

Review

"...a fine book, written by one of the most acute observers of the health scene in the States today." -- John H Knowles, MD, President of the Rockfeller Foundation, 1974

"...by far, the best book i have ever read on the subject of medicine as it relates to economics.." -- Minneapolis Tribune

"...superbly intelligent commentary on American health care.." -- The Washington Post Book World

"Overall, this book is a magnificant achievement." -- Roger Platt, MD, Consulting Editor, Hospital Physician

"Page for page, there is more fact, and more illuminating principle, than in many books ten times its length." ---- The New York Times Book Section

"Every doctor, policy maker, and concerned citizen should listen as Fuchs explains the keys to getting physicians to make cost-effective decisions, the only promising way to control health-care costs. They should listen again as he identifies the drastic shifts over 40 years in how Americans pay for care, and then explains why that shift to bigger payers with much more bargaining power has failed to restrain costs. Finally, they should ponder the reform plan he presents here, developed with Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, after distilling wisdom from dozens of experts in a multi-year project. If great clarity, practical insights, and relevant data on health care are what you want, Vic Fuchs' Who Shall Live? is for you." ---- Richard Zeckhauser, Frank P Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Kennedy School, Harvard University

"Victor Fuchs is the most perspicacious, prolific, influential -- and durable -- of the small cadre of economists who founded the field of health economics. Who Shall Live? created something of a sensation when it was first published. Its messages resonate today, and it behooves anyone seriously interested in health and health care to devour its wisdom. Prof Fuchs continues to offer new ideas, filled with insight, that demand attention from America's health care policy makers. His analysis of health reform and his 'comprehensive cure' should be required reading for every state and federal legislator, and for every citizen who cares about the future of our country." ---- Kenneth E Warner, Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465091865
• ISBN 13: 9780465091867
• Binding: Unknown Binding
• Number of pages: 168