Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity, Updated with a New Afterword [Paperback]

Susan Starr Sered (Author), Rushika Fernandopulle (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520250060 | ISBN-13: 978-0520250062 | Publication Date: October 16, 2006 | Edition: 1

Uninsured in America goes to the heart of why more than forty million Americans are falling through the cracks in the health care system, and what it means for society as a whole when so many people suffer the consequences of inadequate medical care. Based on interviews with 120 uninsured men and women and dozens of medical providers, policymakers, and advocates from around the nation, this book takes a fresh look at one of the most important social issues facing the United States today. A new afterword updates the stories of many of the people who are so memorably presented here.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sered, an anthropologist, and Fernandopulle, a doctor specializing in public-health policy, provide a troubling look at Americans without health insurance, some of whom must choose between food and medical treatment. They interviewed more than 120 uninsured Americans in Texas, Mississippi, Idaho, Illinois, and Massachusetts as well as physicians, administrators, and health-policy officials. The result is a collection of heartrending stories of the "caste of the ill, the infirm, and the marginally employed." The authors describe the "death spiral" of people who lack insurance for myriad reasons--including self-employment and divorce--and whose illnesses cannot be adequately treated. Their medical conditions inevitably deteriorate--small tumors metastasize, diabetes leads to amputation or dialysis treatments--increasing both the costs and the dire consequences. Once individuals are caught in the death spiral, they are unlikely to find a way out. The ultimate impact of this shocking crisis is felt by all Americans in the form of higher health-care costs and more antibiotic-resistant bacteria as conditions go untreated. This is a stark and disturbing book. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"If Upton Sinclair aimed for the public's heart and hit its stomach instead, Sered and Fernandopulle's discussion of caste lands an unnerving shot to the mouth.... Introducing meaningful change into the health-care system will take work from all quarters; and academics like Sered and Fernandopulle...have an indispensable role to play in that effort." Benjamin Healy, New Republic "A moving account of what it is like to be 'uninsured in America.' May it awaken the conscience of the nation." David U. Himmelstein, M.D., and Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., MPH, Journal of the American Medical Association "A vivid, indignant, and important book, and it does one thing better than any other before: Uninsured makes the abandoned millions visible again. Read it." Atul Gawande, M.D., author of Complications"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520250060
• ISBN-13: 978-0520250062
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Insurance > Health
  • #79 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Policy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Death Spiral Of Persons Who Lack Health Insurance, June 12, 2005

By 

G. Reid (Roseland, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (Hardcover)

40,000,000 - 50,000,000 Americans have no health insurance and another group of Americans of equal size are underinsured. Americans have to choose between food and medicine. Americans live in a land of opportunity until they have a challenge to their health. If you have a challenge to your health and if you do not have the best private health insurance you will enter a death spiral as the change in your health will drain away your money and your hope. It is a sad day - only in America, the land of no national health insurance.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the rise of a "caste system" in the US, January 19, 2006

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (Hardcover)

The authors strongly couch their presentation as attesting to the rise of a caste system in the United States. Where the caste consists of the chronically ill, infirm and marginally employed. Several members of this group are interviewed. In the MidWest, Mississipi and other regions.

A common symptom is a death spiral, whereby working class individuals, who might indeed have worked very hard, but then suffered injuries, fall into a feedback loop. Where they can barely afford health case. Except for emergency room admissions. A cruel paradox.

The book goes into how the stress of poverty and being ill can feed into and reinforce each other.

Another ironic aspect shown is how caregivers can often lack health insurance. A bitter scenario that is all too common.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know what is happening in our country...buy it now!, May 7, 2007

By 

Leah K. Diamond (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (Hardcover)

This is not a work of fiction, it is horrifyingly real and it will keep you up at night unable to put the book down. Each chapter contains real-life situations that people across the country face as they struggle to survive without health insurance. These are facts you think can only happen to "other" people, but these others are looking more and more like us. Somehow, their lives still remain hidden from the general public, but this book deserves to be discussed on 60 minutes to make people aware of what is happening in our country. This book terrified me more than any horror novel ever could, because it could happen to any one of us at any time.