The History and Evolution of Healthcare in America: The Untold Backstory of Where We've Been, Where We Are, and Why Healthcare Needs Reform PDF

Rating: (2 reviews) Author: Visit Amazon's Thomas W. Loker Page ISBN : 9781475900736 New from $19.32 Format: PDF

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About the Author

Thomas W. Loker served seven years as COO for a company that manages public-funded healthcare benefits for low-income and underserved populations. He has had a long career in the fields of science, technology, and healthcare-related industries. Loker also wrote Delusional Ravings of a Lunatic Mind. He currently lives in California. Visit him online at www.loker.com.

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• Product Details
• Table of Contents
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• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1475900732
• ISBN-13: 978-1475900736
• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 6.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

The History and Evolution of Healthcare in America: The Untold Backstory of Where We've Been, Where We Are, and Why Healthcare Needs Reform PDF

Here is a fast-reading but detailed perspective on the history of healthcare in the United States, from colonial times to the present. Loker takes us right up to the present in 2012, where we await the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the PPACA of 2010, more widely known as Obamacare. We learn how far government involvement has come, from no national health programs in the early 20th century, to the advent of Medicare and Medicaid under Lyndon Baines Johnson. Now we await the high court ruling on "the mandate", a requirement that every citizen have health insurance.

Loker uses fictionalized accounts of his ancestors, starting with their immigration from England in the 17th century, to introduce each section of the book. These vignettes paint the picture of the dismal state of healthcare in the past, when life expectancies were short, infants often died of infection, and women often died in childbirth. Each chapter covers a specific era, and ends with an addendum outling the technological advances of the time. We learn of the emergence of patent medicines, and the astounding percentage of the population addicted to the morphine and cocaine contained in these mainly worthless products. Finally, sufficient advances occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to slowly make available real advances in medicine.

In a novel approach to understanding the rising costs of healthcare in recent decades, the author takes us through the rise of private and government insurance coverage. He then uniquely gives us the perspective of the rising costs of care set against inflation and the expansion of the money supply.

In the final chapters, Loker shifts into a timely discussion of the constitutional issues relevant to the Obamacare debate.

Author and healthcare executive Thomas Loker in his recently released "The History and Evolution of Healthcare in America" provides an outstanding historical perspective on the evolution of healthcare in America. He begins with his ancestors arriving in 1634, in what would become Maryland, after fleeing religious persecution in England. After taking the reader through healthcare's history, he connects the dots between its evolution and today's healthcare crisis. Loker ends the book with an analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and his thoughts on what we needs to be done to provide cost-effective, quality care for our nation in the future.

The first seven chapters are organized around specific periods - 1492-1776; 1777-1849; 1850-1899; 1900-1929; 1930-1949; 1950-1979; 1980-2010; Present day - with each beginning with a fictional or true vignette, centering on his family and their use of existing healthcare for the period. Facts, trends, convergences, and an addendum of key milestones in the evolution of healthcare complete each chapter. The interplay between his family use of available healthcare at a point of time in the past, and the historical facts and trends of the period make for fascinating and provocative reading.

"The History and Evolution" provides ample detail on the emergence of hospitals, the drug industry, health insurance; physician power, malpractice tort, government intervention, and reform. Loker uses this foundation to show how the "evolutionary changes in the practice of medicine have led to the high costs and inefficiencies that characterized our system today and defy resolution in the new healthcare reform law, passed in 2010.