Reddit Reddit reviews The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the United States Health Care System, 1st Edition

We found 7 Reddit comments about The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the United States Health Care System, 1st Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the United States Health Care System, 1st Edition
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7 Reddit comments about The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the United States Health Care System, 1st Edition:

u/SGDFish · 3 pointsr/TumblrInAction

In a nutshell, I think it's trying to fix a broken system with an equally broken system.

There are two students from the Washington University School of Medicine that came and delivered a lecture to my class (I'm also in med school) about the breakdown of the US healthcare system and how it's really more of an amalgamation of 8 different systems. One of the standout points they mentioned was that while we are currently in a crisis in terms of trying to pay for everyone to have some form of healthcare, just about every other country out there that uses a more socialized system is eventually going to hit where we are, we just happened to get there first.

The sad truth of the matter is that there are limited medical resources (both in terms of equipment and staff), and some people are going to fall through the cracks. I distinctly remember during my interview process a discussion I had with one of my interviewers, who was a doctor and a long time administrator himself. He asked me if I thought healthcare was a right or a privilege. I said I thought it was a right, but it doesn't seem to be implemented that way. He responded that while the ideal is that it's a right, it currently is a privilege and will stay that way until we develop a much better system of managing healthcare. For the time being, there are too many people being forced into a system with too little resources and not enough money behind it to alter how care is given. Other problems are also related to the fact that the existence of insurance has greatly driven up the price of many procedures, there are often an overabundance of procedures (CT, MRI) performed emergently that don't need to be (out of fear of litigation, billing for insurance, or even just trying to give in to a overly-concerned parent), people are very ill-informed about their own health, and even the idea of what base-level care actually means (which is something that Obamacare is supposed to offer to everyone).

All that being said, I won't pretend to have a solution because the situation is so complicated and goes so far beyond just healthcare that I wouldn't know where to begin. Also, my own experience in dealing with healthcare is pretty one-sided, so there are probably some major points I'm missing here.

On a final note, the students I mentioned earlier actually wrote a book, so if you'd like to read up on the whole situation, here's the link-

http://www.amazon.com/The-Health-Care-Handbook-ebook/dp/B0088CMAUU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1367512148&sr=1-1&keywords=the+health+care+handbook

Also, sorry this ended up being super long. The TL;DR version is just this basically: In a nutshell, I think it's trying to fix a broken system with an equally broken system.

u/yourboysaf · 3 pointsr/Mcat

I really like the Healthcare Handbook https://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Handbook-Concise-United-ebook/dp/B0088CMAUU

It's very concise and covers a lot of crucial topics that you should be aware of going into medicine. For social/economic/political issues ... This is a tough one. A lot of your answers will depend on where you are on the political spectrum. So wherever you lie on that, stick to your conviction and back it with evidence. I am on the left with issues so that's what my answers reflect. So bottom line, be well read in those areas. I'd recommend "Sociology: The Essentials"

u/sasky_81 · 2 pointsr/medicine

Found it: The Health Care Handbook

As I said - not a deep, immersive book, but it gives a very good, detailed pespective of the health care system as it exists today, written by people inside it.

u/probably_apocryphal · 2 pointsr/premed

The Healthcare Handbook

Blurb:

> The American health care system is vast, complex and confusing. Books about it shouldn't be. The Health Care Handbook is your one-stop guide to the people, organizations and industries that make up the U.S. health care system, and the major issues the system faces today. The Handbook's five chapters (250 pages) cover:

> * Inpatient and outpatient health care and delivery systems

  • The different types of health insurance and how they're structured
  • Health policy and government health care programs
  • Concise summaries of 31 different health professions
  • Medical research, technology, and drugs
  • A clear summary of the Affordable Care Act, challenges to the law, and other reform options.
  • Economic concepts and the factors that make health care so expensive
  • The Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries

    In my opinion, this book has a great balance of completeness/readability - I had a pretty fragmented knowledge of the healthcare system, and this book tied everything together and filled in the gaps.

    Full disclosure: The Healthcare Handbook was written by two students at the med school that I attend, and our class was given free copies of the book - but I totally think it's worth the $8.
u/calypsocasino · 1 pointr/premed

hey buddy.

Health Care Handbook by Elizabeth Askin & Nathan Moore. I read it when applying in 2013 and at the time it was a free pdf. Now it's a book but I remember reading like 20 pages every morning in bed and it was like a kid's book. So easily digestible. I was accepted to USC (Los Angeles), Tulane and Miami and all interviewers said I was very well versed in Obamacare. Also, google "Redditor explains obamacare" by /u/CaspianX ...I read that everyday for a month and it melted into my memory, didn't even have to actively memorize. And it was...dare I say...even enjoyable to read haha.

I haven't read the other one's posted here but they may be just what you're looking for too!

Amazon link (can get digital and have it in 2 seconds!): http://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Handbook-Elisabeth-Askin-ebook/dp/B0088CMAUU

Review of the book: http://healthcarehandbook.wustl.edu/


good luck and please PM for any help with the admissions process. I answer loads of PMs every week and have been since this time last year. I received help from a friend a year above me and feel the need to pay it forward!

:)