Unraveling U.S. Health Care: A Personal Guide

Unraveling U.S. Health Care is a guidebook to the health care system that provides a timely and thorough explanation of U.S. health care, written in readable laymen’s terms. Roberta Winter educates and informs general readers about useful information that will empower their health care decision making. She makes sense of important health care issues, which are often filtered with political and financial stakeholder bias, confusing the health care consumer. Useful tips, explanatory charts, and statewide scorecards are included throughout to assist readers in choosing the best care they can receive. More than ever, patients must act as consumers of health care, balancing informed decisions with available resources. Keeping this in mind, Winter also explores other options available to patients, including seeking health care outside the United States, and provides a roadmap for medical tourists to the U.S. In addition, she includes Medicare enrollment tips, and a summary of the 2010 health care reforms and implementation guidelines. Bringing all this data together, this book will serve as a resource and guide for anyone who seeks to receive better care for both everyday issues and major health concerns alike.

Table of Contents:
Introduction (Prologue) Part 1 United States Health Care Overview 1.The Truth About U.S. Health Care 2.Why U.S. Health Care is So Expensive 3.Evidence-Based Planning— What It Means and Why You Should Care 4.Quality and Cost or How the United States Compares With Other Countries Part 2 Health Care Quality—Know Where To Go 5.Quality Indicators— Best Hospitals for Patient Safety 6.Critical Care—U.S. Hospitals With Level I Trauma Centers 7.Patient Safety—Who Reports Hospital Errors Part 3 Resourcing Your Health Care 8.Surgical Tips—When You Have to Go Under the Knife 9.How to Get Medical Treatment in the United States Without Health Insurance 10.Medical Tourism—Getting Health Care Outside the United States 11.Health Care for Visitors to the United States 12.Naturopathic and Alternative Health Care in America— Who Regulates It 13.Health Care Reforms—A Consumer Perspective 14.When It’s Terminal—How to Die Well 15.What You Need to Know Before Your Medicare Election 16.Insurance 101 Part 4 Health Measures— Regional and State Results 17.Women’s Health Care—The Best and the Worst in the United States 18.Men’s Health Care—The Best and the Worst in the United States 19.Children’s Health Care—The Best and Worst in the United States 20.Strategies for Reducing the Cost of Health Care in the United States Epilogue Appendix for the Informed Health Care Purchaser Acknowledgments Bibliography