A timely and necessary contribution. Whether or not one agrees with the authors' conclusions, the book is essential reading for anyone concerned with health care reform. It carries out the critical task of placing our national health care debates in the wider context of justice and health care reform around the world.
(Nancy S. Jecker, PhD
JAMA 2007)
A detailed analysis of the differences between health care systems in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Latin America, and several countries in Asia and Africa.
(Mary Beth Kenkel
PsycCRITIQUES 2007)
Among the many valuable contributions of Medicine and the Market... is its potential to motivate a new program of qualitative research into the impact of different health care funding and distribution arrangements, not simply upon our bodies, but also, as it were, upon our souls.
(James Lindemann Nelson
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2007)
[Callahan and Wasunna] convincingly show that, in health care, markets are famous for maximizing choice, not efficiency.
(Peter A. Ubel
Hastings Center Report 2007)
A book that deserves to be read by anyone concerned with health systems analysis and health care reform.
(Andreas Reis
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 2007)
The book will interest readers of this journal because the national case studies are alert to both the distant and recent past.
(Martin Gorsky
Social History of Medicine 2007)
The global survey of market influences in health care that Callahan and Wasunna conduct is extensive and complete.
(
Journal of Value Inquiry 2007)
Internationally informed with extensive cross cultural data, this is a book that didn't merely hold my interest from start to finish—I often found myself excited by it.
(James Nelson, Michigan State University )
This book provides a great deal of information about a 'hot' topic that heretofore has not been available in a single source.
(Thomas Rice, UCLA School of Public Health )
A thoughtful and penetrating analysis, from an international perspective, of how social values, scientific progress, and public aspirations have shaped the role of the market in medicine and health care. By rising above stereotypes, simple dichotomous choices, and a single concept of 'the market,' this book provides insights into how effective, efficient, affordable, and more equitable health care could be achieved—thus better meeting the goals of medicine locally and globally.
(Solomon Benatar, University of Cape Town )
No topic in health care today is more important, and this is the best book on the subject that I have seen. It is scholarly, yet engrossing and easily accessible for the general reader. It will be widely discussed.
(Arnold S. Relman, M.D., Harvard Medical School, former Editor-in-Chief,
New England Journal of Medicine )
In what often is but faith-based policy analysis, free markets have become in the minds of many the next new panacea that will solve our economic and moral health care dilemmas. In this fine book, Daniel Callahan and Angela Wasunna explore the empirical underpinnings of this faith. Without rejecting the potential of market forces in health care outright—which would be another faith-based gesture—they present a thoughtful portrait of the strength and limitations of that approach in the context of health care. Their work is a must read for any would-be health care reformer.
(Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton University )
