Health Care In 2020

Book excerpt: Health reform, often called Obamacare, may or may not survive legal challenges and the aftermath of the 2012 election. The new law and the alternatives put forth by its opponents are unlikely to alter U.S. health care's most pressing problems: physician shortages; uncontrollable cost increases; widespread and poorly controlled chronic disease, and widespread medical treatment that does not benefit patients. In Health Care in 2020, award-winning veteran journalist Steve Jacob distills six years worth of research and reporting on health care policy, and reveals where health care is headed and what can be done to change its perilous course. Health reform's major goal was to ensure everyone had affordable health insurance. How affordable that insurance will be is a separate