Health Economics and Policy: Selected Writings by Victor Fuchs

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"The collection represents an extraordinary intellectual achievement and... a handbook for anyone thinking about health and health policy."

Foreword by Sir Angus Deaton
winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics

"Victor Fuchs... is one of the world's most influential figures in health, medicine, and policy... His writings could be considered the single most authoritative guidebook on health economics."

Foreword by Victor J Dzau
MD, President of the National Academy of Medicine

Victor Fuchs offers a selection of his public lectures, articles, papers, and op-eds during the past 50 years. Also included are forewords by Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, and Victor Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. Organized in eight parts, it begins with an introduction to the field of health economics and ends with tributes to the founders and leaders of the field. In between, Fuchs discusses the determinants of health, the cost of medical care, international comparisons, health insurance, demography and aging, and health policy and health care reform. A special introduction precedes each Part. This book represents what Fuchs calls the economic perspective applied to health and medical care, a perspective of which Angus Deaton says, "Fuchs has long been the master."

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--> Contents:

• Praise from Experts
• Dedication
• Other Health-Related Books by Victor Fuchs
• Foreword (Angus Deaton)
• Foreword (Victor Dzau)
• Health Economics:
  • Health Economics
  • Health Care and the United States Economic System: An Essay in Abnormal Physiology
  • What Every Philosopher Should Know About Health Economics
  • The Future of Health Economics
  • Major Concepts of Health Care Economics
• Who Shall Live?:
  • Poverty and Health: Asking the Right Questions
  • Schooling and Health: The Cigarette Connection
  • Reflections on the Socio-Economic Correlates of Health
  • Social Determinants of Health: Caveats and Nuances
  • Black Gains in Life Expectancy
• The Cost of Care:
  • The Basic Forces Influencing Costs of Medical Care
  • Surgical Work Loads in a Community Practice
  • The Supply of Surgeons and the Demand for Operations
  • Case Mix, Costs, and Outcomes Differences between Faculty and Community Services in a University Hospital
  • Eliminating "Waste" in Health Care
  • The Doctor's Dilemma — What Is "Appropriate" Care?
• International Comparisons:
  • How Does Canada Do It? A Comparison of Expenditures for Physicians' Services in the United States and Canada
  • Hospital Expenditures in the United States and Canada
  • Why Do Other Rich Nations Spend So Much Less on Healthcare?
  • The Challenges to Health Policy in Modern Economies
  • How and Why US Health Care Differs From that in Other OECD Countries
• Health Insurance:
  • From Bismarck to Woodcock: The "Irrational" Pursuit of National Health Insurance
  • Public Support for National Health Insurance: The Roles of Attitudes and Beliefs
  • A Comprehensive Cure: Universal Health Care Vouchers
  • Who Really Pays for Health Care? The Myth of "Shared Responsibility"
• Demography and Aging:
  • The New Demographic Transition: Most Gains in Life Expectancy Now Realized Late in Life
  • "Though Much Is Taken": Reflections on Aging, Health, and Medical Care
  • "Provide, Provide": The Economics of Aging
  • The Financial Problems of the Elderly: A Holistic View
  • New Priorities for Future Biomedical Innovation
• Health Policy and Health Care Reform:
  • Economics, Health, and Post-Industrial Society
  • Economics, Values, and Health Care Reform
  • The Structure of Medical Education — It's Time for a Change
  • Reflections on Economic Research and Public Policy
  • Health Reform: Getting the Essentials Right
  • The Transformation of American Physicians
• Professional Appreciations:
  • Preface, Kenneth Arrow and the Changing Economics of Health Care
  • Nobel Laureate Gary S Becker: Ideas About Facts
  • A Review of Martin S Feldstein's Economic Analysis for Health Service Efficiency
  • An Appreciation of Michael Grossman
  • My Remarks When Awarding the ASHE (American Society of Health Economists) Career Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Field of Health Economics in My Name to Joseph Newhouse (2014)
• My Philosophy of Life
• Acknowledgements
• List of Co-Authors
• List of Journals
• Author Index
• Subject Index

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--> Readership: Graduate students, researchers and policymakers in the fields of health economics and healthcare policies. -->
Keywords:Health;Medical Care;Health Policy;Economics;Health Care Reform;Health InsuranceReview:

"You have to be as old as I am to know how long Victor Fuchs has been the dean of health economics. No one knows more, or has thought as carefully about all matters relating to health care than Victor. He is a wise, caring and very funny man. Now more than ever, we need his wisdom, and here we have it in nice bite-sized digestible portions, just like the doctor would order. Read it and learn."

Richard Thaler
Professor of University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Winner of Nobel Prize in Economics

"When Thomas Carlyle called economics 'the dismal science' he had not had the privilege of reading Victor Fuchs. A grand master of clear thinking and trenchant prose, Fuchs sheds an economist's light on a host of topics in health and health care. This collection rewards the reader with many rich, nuanced and gratifying insights."

Harvey V Fineberg, M.D.
President, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Past President, National Academy of Medicine

"This book introduces a broad audience to economist Victor Fuchs' analytical skills, wisdom, and deep humanity. A must-read for every proponent of better health at affordable cost."

Richard Zeckhouse
Professor
Harvard University
Kennedy School of Government

"Victor Fuchs has brought penetrating insights to the analysis of US health and health care for more than five decades. He has been unafraid to speak moral and economic truth to power and to forge his own creative proposals. One can only hope that those in position of power will heed his advice."

Barry S Coller, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Physician-in-Chief
Rockefeller University Hospital

"For decades, economist Victor Fuchs has been a voice of reason, untangling the complexities of health economics with unsurpassed clarity and wisdom. Because his topics are so central to health care, and because his writing is so lucid, reading this book will benefit not only seasoned health policy experts but also the general public."

Steven Schroeder, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
UC San Francisco

"The collection of essays by Victor Fuchs spans all of the key topics in health economics and makes them accessible. His elegant analyses bridge the gaps between economics, medicine, and public policy. Written with verve and style, this book is a useful starting point for anyone interested in health and health care."

Janet Currie
Chair, Department of Economics, Princeton University

"This book is a treasure trove of insights from the productive career of one of America's most thoughtful health analysts and clearest policy writers."

Alice Rivlin
Brooking Institution
Former Vice-Chair, Federal Reserve

"Victor Fuchs' insights, captured in articles written over his long career, have brilliantly informed and enlivened the debate over the failures and successes of our health care system, while constantly pointing the way to better, and more equitable care and outcomes for all Americans."

Leonard Schaeffer
Professor USC Health Policy
Founder and First CEO, Wellpoint

"This collection of Victor Fuchs seminal writings highlights not only his knowledge and incisive thinking about important health policy issues over five decades, but his unparalled wisdom. A gem of a collection."

Stephen M Shortell
Professor of Health Policy and Management Emeritus
Dean Emeritus, School of Public Health, UC-Berkeley

"Fuchs' intellectual vision was trans-disciplinary before the term was first uttered. He taught us that nearly all health care problems benefit from the perspective of economics, but none can be resolved from that perspective alone."

Kenneth Warner
Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus
University of Michigan School of Public Health

"Victor Fuchs is known as the Dean of Health Economics — and these seminal papers show exactly why."

Atul Gawande, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Harvard Medical School Key Features:

• Provides insights into American health economics and policy
• Includes Forewords by Sir Angus Deaton, Princeton, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics and Victor Dzau, MD, President, National Academy of Medicine