Our unsystematic health care system /

This fifth edition of Our Unsystematic Healthcare System explores important debates and offers a comprehensive synopsis of health care delivery in the US. Chapter 1 begins by posing questions about life expectancy and health care costs in the US compared to other countries. Similar to the fourth edition, this edition explores the Affordable Care Act but expands the discussion to include the polarizing public health efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the political and social turmoil caused by overturning Roe v. Wade (1973) in 2022. In the discourse about health insurance, occupations, and hospital systems, Budrys (emer., sociology, DePaul Univ.) presents the complexities of reimbursement formulas and the havoc that network consolidation is causing. She warns how consolidation poses a serious threat to American health care arrangements. The fifth edition includes a new chapter on the pharmaceutical industry, which explores why big pharma has become the most reviled arena in health care today. The final chapter ("Determinants of Health") delves into how personal choices regarding diet, exercise, and sleep impact health, examining the WHO's view that neither behavior nor health care arrangements are responsible for people's health. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Barbara Ann D'Anna, SUNY Delhi