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Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care Paperback – February 22, 2008

by Arnold Kling (Author)

17 customer reviews

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America's health care troubles stem largely from a great success: Modern medicine can do much more today than in the past. The problem is how to pay for it. In easy to understand prose, MIT-trained economist Arnold Kling explains better ways of financing health care by relying less on government and more on private savings and insurance. A must-read for health care reformers.

Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one of the most important books written on health care." -- Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University, copublisher of Marginal Revolution.

I warmly recommend his book to general readers who want to understand what economics has to say about health care. -- Arnold S. Relman, The New England Journal of Medicine, September 2006 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

His book is clear, concise, and eminently readable; he writes in straightforward English prose, not economic jargon; he is modest, posing questions more often than he answers them; and he considers alternatives to most of the policy options he discusses. I warmly recommend his book to general readers who want to understand what economics has to say about health care.
- Arnold S. Relman, M.D., Harvard Medical School, writing in The New England Journal of Medicine [Full text of review]

"Crisis of Abundance is full of useful insights, the best being Kling's schema for understanding the value of medical care. Kling offers some innovative ideas on how to introduce more consumerism into health care. It is ideas like these that will move us toward a more market-based system of health care and save us from the disaster that is a single-payer system."
- David Hogberg, The American Spectator [Full text of review]

For a fresh analysis of health care, people ought to look to economist Arnold Kling's new book, Crisis of Abundance. Although it offers no easy villain-versus-hero narrative or solution to the challenges of funding health care, it diagnoses the problem with precision.
- Sally Pipes, National Review Online, President of the Pacific Research Institute

This is a lucid and persuasive book--one of the most accessible guides I have ever seen to what is wrong with our health care system and how we might fix it. People of all ideological persuasions will find it enlightening and helpful.
- Daniel Shaviro, Wayne Perry Professor of Taxation, New York University School of Law, author of Who Should Pay for Medicare?

Crisis of Abundance pinpoints precisely where our health care spending has gone wrong. An emphasis on high-cost 'premium medicine' of marginal benefit, coupled with consumers shielded from its cost, has left us spending more for less. But Kling does more than offer criticisms--he also offers solutions. It's the Back to the Future of healthcare economics.
- Sydney Smith, publisher of Medpundit

This is one of the most important books written on health care.
- Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics, George Mason University, copublisher of Marginal Revolution --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

Paperback: 120 pages
Publisher: Cato Institute (February 22, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1933995130
ISBN-13: 978-1933995137
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 17 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,525,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #929 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Policy
- #2786 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Care Delivery
- #15411 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy

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Ugh!

ByOrchidon March 10, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book was good to get an understanding of the current thinking about health care. The biggest problem is that the thinking needs to come out of the dark ages. For instance, the biggest remedy for health care costs was to force Seniors to pay exorbitant deductables like $75,000 a year because according to the figures he uses it is only seniors who need expensive healthcare, especially within a few months of end-of-life. I didn't see anything about the seniors on SSI?

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Best Book on Health Care I've Seen

ByHVeinotton December 26, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the best source for understanding the health care I have come across. The book does a great job exploring the complexities of the health care problem and the inevitable trade off we will face in making changes to the current system. Kling explains how basically there are 3 conflicting goals for health care finance: affordability for society as a whole, unfettered access for individuals, and insulation of individuals from the cost of their health care. It is impossible to achieve all three goals at once, as many schemes promise to do. Kling believes the best solution is to abandon the 3rd goal, insulating consumers from direct costs. Kling offers some models of long term, high deductible insurance policies which would be capable of insuring most people at reasonable costs. However, such a system would require significant regulatory and tax policy changes, and would probably be politically unpopular. The book contains some great analysis I have not seen anywhere else. I was surprised to learn that in many universal systems people consumers actually pay slightly more direct health care expenses than in the United States. Kling points to this insulation from costs as a major reason regular market forces cannot operate and health care spending continues to grow unchecked. I would recommend this book to anyone vaguely interested in the health care debate. It's just under 100 pages but packs in an incredible amount of learning.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Five Stars

ByAdnan A. Khanon December 28, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Great contribution to those of us following data and information on health care costs and their implication. Must read

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Short, Well-Written, and Well-Reasoned

ByZeldockon March 26, 2007

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

"Crisis of Abundance" should be read by any educated person who wants to understand the healthcare crisis in the U.S. and proposals to remedy it. This short, intelligent book reviews the various theories in play to explain why the U.S. spends so much more (as a percentage of GDP) on healthcare than other developed nations; looks at the "awkward facts" facing each theory; describes the trade-offs that any system for healthcare spending cannot avoid; and presents realistic policy considerations for improvement.

Even if you normally don't read "public policy" books, you should make time for this one. It will give you a solid foundation for evaluating what politicians and pundits say about the healthcare crisis and all the different fixes, both good and bad, that will be offered for your support.

0Comment 14 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

healthcare finance

ByDr. Billon May 3, 2008

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Probably one of he best critiques of what ails the US healthcare system today. So-called health "insurance" isn't insurance. What is insurable about the risk that I will visit my doctor for an annual physical or my dentist for a cleaning? Why shouldn't I pay these out of pocket and use insurance to pay for what I can't pay out of pocket -- a catastrophic health incident? We get really interested in what we pay for out of our own pockets, but it has to be more than a co-pay or low deducible.

Like Social Security, people are not given an incentive to save for the healthcare needs of old age and Kling recommends a tax-exempt account which, if started at age 30 with annual contributions of $1600 and 3% real interst, would accumulate to $100,000 by age 65. At that time the owner would buy a "rest of life" insurance policy for a $25,000 premium with a $75,000 deductible. Medicare is phased out gradually. Make sense? That's why you'll never seen a politician support it. They can only think in terms of government run programs -- the same government that gave us postal "service", Medicare, and a social security programs whose paltry returns would get a commercial annuity manager fired or jailed for pocketing contributions net of payments instead of paying them to a decedent's estate.

This is a great book to read in an election year when everyone has a solution to healthcare in America.

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Well worth reading

ByJoshon May 16, 2006

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

If you've ever wondered why health care is so expensive in America, Kling will fill you in. Despite what many of us believe(d), it's not because of greedy pharmas or wasteful paperwork - as Kling shows, those ideas just don't hold water to explain the obscene cost hikes in recent years. Kling makes a great case that what has caused our problems is what he calls "premium medicine" - or health care spending whose cost exceeds its benefit.

As for solutions to our problems, Kling does a good job of unraveling many of the claims made by single-payer advocates, most notably that they can control costs without reducing benefits.

And when it comes to his own solutions, I found them to be very sensible (although I think he deliberately keeps them general). For example, he proposes keeping the government involved in funding health care, but ONLY for the poor and chronically ill (unlike in its current form where it also funds the elderly rich). This idea is so sensible - and seems to appeal to those on both sides of the aisle - that I'm surprised we haven't already done it.

All in all, well worth the read. Even if you generally don't like libertarian solutions to today's problems, I think you'll find Kling's book very easy to read, with far less ideology than in most other books on anything as controversial as health care.

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Presents a very good framework for thinking about health care

ByTRoweon July 1, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I have read several books on the US health care "crisis" in the last six months. Crisis of Abundance is by far the most valuable. The book is a quick read, but lays out a very useful framework for thinking about how we got to the current situation and the tradeoffs to consider in changing health care finance. The insight that private health insurance is not really insurance is particularly informative.

Anyone who is interested in the health care debate should read this.