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Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How It Works Hardcover – December 20, 2011

by Jonathan Gruber (Author), Nathan Schreiber (Illustrator)

4.0 220 ratings

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You won’t have to worry about going broke if you get sick. We will start to bring the costs of health care under control. And we will do all this while reducing the federal deficit. That is the promise of the Affordable Care Act. But from the moment President Obama signed the bill into law in 2010, a steady and mounting avalanche of misinformation about the ACA has left a growing majority of Americans confused about what it is, why it’s necessary, and how it works. If you’re one of them, buy this book. From how to tame the twin threats of rising costs and the increasing number of uninsured to why an insurance mandate is good for your health, Health Care Reform dispels false fears by arming you with facts.

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Hill and Wang
Publication date

December 20, 2011
Dimensions

7.27 x 0.77 x 10.25 inches
ISBN-10

0809094622
ISBN-13

978-0809094622
See all details

Kristin L. Reiter PhD
118
Hardcover
28 offers from $92.30
Robert H. Friis
503
Paperback
64 offers from $40.53

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jonathan Gruber, one of the country’s smartest health care minds, has brought the epic struggle of health reform to life. By explaining the challenges in our health care system as well as the benefits of the reform with imagination and verve, he accomplishes what many have tried and failed to do—he makes the case for health reform as an important achievement for the American people.” —Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress

“Having spent years working to make health care work for Americans, Jonathan Gruber has now provided another service: walking everyone through the benefits of the Affordable Care Act reforms so consumers are armed with accessible information. In an age when information is power, Gruber’s book is fun and informative, and it boils down the facts of health care reform for all Americans.” —Senator John Kerry “If you want to learn about health care reform, you can do no better than to learn from the master. Jonathan Gruber shows how health care reform works in a way that everyone can understand. Read this book. You will not regret it.” —David Cutler, Professor, Department of Economics and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University “Jonathan Gruber’s straightforward explanation of what the Affordable Care Act does and why will help people understand what’s true and what’s false about the health reform law. His message is clear and easy to get: when it comes to health care, we’re all in it together; and, together, we will benefit from making the Affordable Care Act a success.” —Judy Feder, Professor and former Dean, Georgetown Public Policy Institute

About the Author

Dr. Jonathan Gruber is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was a key architect of Massachusetts’s ambitious health reform effort and consulted extensively with the Obama administration and Congress during the development of the Affordable Care Act. The Washington Post called him “possibly the [Democratic] party’s most influential health-care expert.” Nathan Schreiber’s comics have appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Overflow, and Smith Magazine and on ACT-I-VATE.com. His comic Power Out won a Xeric award and has been nominated for an Eisner award and multiple Harvey awards.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hill and Wang; 29904th edition (December 20, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0809094622
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0809094622
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.27 x 0.77 x 10.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,122,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,288 in Educational & Nonfiction Graphic Novels
- #1,382 in Health Policy (Books)
- #303,811 in Health, Fitness & Dieting (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 220 ratings

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Jonathan Gruber
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Nathan Schreiber
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I’ve always loved stories, and I knew early on I wanted to make comics. As a kid, when I wasn’t reading Spider-Man, I delved into my English and History classes because I was drawn to the characters and action. But once at college, I learned the profound and mesmerizing power of science, and realized I had missed out on something as a kid. I make Science Ninjas for those story-focused kids like me, who would love to read about science as a saga. And with my unique set of skills as a shonen-obsessed artist and engineer, I’m one of the few people who can make books that blend story and science.
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Solar Bugman

Affordable Care Act Illustrated and Understandable

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

Jonathan Gruber is an MIT economist and principle architect of Massachusettscare, and was a consultant with the Obama administration and Congress during development of the Affordable Care Act. His book, with H.P. Newquist, is an educational comic book that tells us "what" the ACA is, "why" it's necessary, and "how" it works. It is actually a fast and fun read with a bunch of easy to understand factoids.

We first learn almost half of our "private" health care system is already paid by the government, with a lesser amount paid by consumers/employers. Back in 1950 only 5% of our earnings went for health care; we now pay over 17% for care. But Gruber tells us we don't want 1950s medicine where 29 of 1000 infants died in the first year versus 7 today, and 6 out of 1000 adults died of a heart attack versus half that today.

Regarding wasted and expensive care, we are told that each Medicare enrollee in McAllen, Texas cost the system $15,000, twice the cost in El Paso for patient outcomes that are no better. Another example is Camden, New Jersey where 1% of the population accounts for more than 30% of the city's health expenses.

The Massachusetts care solution was to get everyone covered so the insurance companies could price the insurance fairly knowing they were getting the average risk. This was the individual mandate that provided subsidies for coverage that included preexisting conditions.

Under the ACA insurance will need to cover a standard set of services for doctors, hospitals, drugs, and mental health, where total out-of-pocket expenses cannot exceed $6000 per year. Families will pay as little as 2% of their income and no more than 9.5% to buy the insurance. Because the ACA is so expensive ($940 billion over 10 years), the government will cut overpayments to private insurance companies, tax the profitable drug, device, and insurance companies, and individuals earning more than $200,000, and put a surcharge on the "Cadillac policies" that drive up medical costs with overly generous benefits using tax-free money.

The goals of the ACA are to lower individual health care costs and reduce costs to the government. Maybe it is worth the wait to see if something good happens.

4 people found this helpful

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Brad Kennedy

The Lowdown on Obamacare

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2014

Verified Purchase

I haven't read this 65-page essay in comic book format since it first was published a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, it was so easy to understand I think I have retained the basics.
First, there's no polemics here, just the facts, starting with the stark truth that more of the same is an Rx for disaster. Gruber provides the unassailable statistics that runaway health care costs are the primary driver of our national budgetary crisis, and compares our national health care expenditures as a % of GDP to that of the European democracies. Then he outlines the fundamental purposes of the ACA, including (a) expanding coverage for more Americans, (b) increasing the quality of treatment for all Americans and (c) bending our national healthcare cost curve. He explains how addressing the first two purposes helps accomplish the third. This includes explaining the economic and human benefits of funding preventive medicine and also how the promise of expanded markets wooed the healthcare insurance industry into accepting a restriction on the % of their gross revenues that healthcare companies could use for general & administrative expenses; depending on volume, now providers can apply only 15-18% on G&A, as opposed to pre-ACA, many health corporations were consuming up to 35% for G&A (meaning top-heavy salaries). Now, all receipts over those caps must fund direct health-care treatments and expenses. This alone is projected to account for a 10-15% reduction in national health expense.
The ACA also mandates best treatment practices agreed upon by the leading health centers in the country (e.g. Mass Gen, Gisenger & Mayo Clinic). No longer will the federal government pay for unwarranted and redundant tests and procedures. Now computerized reports track and penalize doctors who don't follow the state-of-the-art protocols and the ACA rewards financially doctors who achieve greater positive treatment outcomes. That would seem not only to be better for people, but it should result in lower treatment costs, as well.
I am far away from my own area of expertise. Maybe that's why this little comic book was meaningful to me. It pulled open the curtain hiding the wizards profiting in many cases from our unnecessary anguish.

3 people found this helpful

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PoCampo

A Good General Overview with an Unnecessary Bias

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2012

Verified Purchase

For anyone who wants a very quick and general overview of the components of the ACA, this is a great place to start. I read it in about 45 minutes, and now plan to start in on some other books that provide a much more in-depth view.

For those of you who are in the categories of businessman or businesswoman, right of center, or making over $200,000 per year, you will need to overlook Professor Gruber's and his illustrator's unfortunate tendancy to depict you as an angry, heartless, ignorant, and reactionary dunderhead. I happen to be a Republican who cares about the poor, is willing to contribute more to help people with their healthcare, and am quite well informed. While I was occasionally offended by Professor Gruber's stereotypical view of me and my cohorts, I was not surprised by it and will still recommend the book. But Professor Gruber, just a little advice for your next book. Not everyone on my side of the aisle worships Rush Limbaugh and wants to keep all of their money to themselves. If you want to convince me of the rightness of your opinion, demonizing me in the process is not a good strategy. And I would say the same to the Paul Ryans, Mitch McConnells, and John Boehners of the world...

6 people found this helpful

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