Health Politics: Power, Populism and Health by Mike Magee, MD. New York: Spencer Books; 2005. 552 pages; hardcover for $39.95; also available soft cover.
The purpose of this book is to provide 76 short essays on key demographic and socioeconomic trends that are rapidly reshaping healthcare in the United States. Among the forces that are covered are globally aging populations, the rise of the Internet, the growth of home-based caregivers, and consumer empowerment. These forces are changing health politics as well as shaping a new health populism. The book is really the centerpiece of a multimedia effort, constituting a successful new health policy textbook and Web site. It includes teaching resources and study questions in each chapter, a CD with hundreds of online resources and video segments with synchronized slides that are available online (http://HealthPolitics.com).
The pressing healthcare topics covered are wide-ranging and cover the obesity epidemic, tobacco control, human immunodeficiency virus testing, depression, violence, elder care, stem cell research, the evolving patient-physician relationship, women's health, bullying, suicide, improving healthcare value, financing home care, and much more. The book is designed for anyone interested in healthcare and healthcare reform in the United States, including policymakers, healthcare providers, and students of health policy at all levels. Chapters are loaded with relevant bulleted lists (eg, p. 105 on Prospects on the Burden of Disease, with diseases expected to decrease and those expected to increase), charts, graphs, and resources for further study.
Chapters flow beautifully and are clearly well-written. Because chapters are short, readers can absorb the material in small chunks and can skip to areas of greatest interest easily. Chapters are focused and to the point and constitute a great jumping off place for wide-ranging discussion. Magee does not shy away from covering very controversial topics (stem cell research, patents that are blocking research) as well as more conventional ones. This book would also be a useful resource for foreign/international students and scholars seeking to get a grasp of some of the major issues in US healthcare.
The book's strength is also one of its weaknesses. Short chapters are not always able to provide readers with a grasp of the immense complexity of the issues, but this is not what the book is designed to do. I was also surprised to note that in the chapter on long-distance caregiving, there was no mention of the National Association of Professional Care Managers (NAPGCM) as one of the resources (a national/international network of care managers). While there is a section on equity, justice, and health disparities, I would also like to have seen a chapter on the challenges of providing healthcare in rural settings.
Magee is the host of "Health Politics with Dr. Mike Magee," a weekly Internet-based program that explores complex issues of healthcare polity and public health for consumers, policymakers, educators, and the news media. He is also the director of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative and a Senior Fellow in the Humanities to the World Medical Association as well as a David Rockefeller Fellow, Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, and a master scholar at New York University School of Medicine. He has worked for years to create lively and productive cross-sector partnerships between government, industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations, and he speaks and writes on a wide range of clinical, public health, and public policy issues that affect healthcare in the United States. As such, he is eminently well-qualified to write this book, which I see as a valuable and important contribution to the field and one that succeeds in pulling together many media and huge numbers of resources in an easy-to-use and access way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks to understand, discuss, or teach about healthcare in the United States.
Marcie Parker, PhD, CFLE
President and CEO Parker and Associates Excelsior, Minn, Georgetown, DE