cover image Health Care Half Truths: Too Many Myths, Not Enough Reality

Health Care Half Truths: Too Many Myths, Not Enough Reality

Carolyn L. Engelhard, Arthur Garson, Jr., . . Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95 (290pp) ISBN 978-0742558298

A much-needed dose of realism, this state-of-the-policy report should be required reading for anyone weighing in on the debate over health-care reform, especially students of health policy. Dean Garson and policy analyst Engelhard, both of the University of Virginia's School of Medicine, show how both defenders and opponents of the current American health-care system rely on false truisms and lazy thinking, such as the idea that most health-care dollars are spent in the last six months of life, or that consumer choice automatically improves care. Members of Congress cling to the hope that quality-improvement programs or more preventive care will save enough money to bail out Medicare and other programs, but Garson and Engelhard expose the flaws in these arguments. Thanks largely to its well thought-out structure, this book makes a surprisingly quick read; in the introduction, for example, the authors' myth vs. reality chapter descriptions make for easy browsing and reference. The sheer number of misconceptions exposed and the seemingly intractable dysfunction of the health-care system as a whole result in a sobering tour, but the final chapter proposes some sound, if occasionally controversial, solutions. Though more general readers may balk at some tedious hair-splitting, this title successfully flushes the plaque from the hardened arteries of the country's health-care dialogue. (Apr.)