adn.com | Health4all : The "Reduced Shakespeare" of the History of American Medicine

Health4all

Every year more Alaskan families lose health insurance and can't afford health care. Every year more families with health insurance cannot afford to use it because of expensive out-of-pocket charges. Every year more Alaskan elders with Medicare are refused treatment by local physicians. And every year health care in Alaska continues to cost 30 percent more than down south. These problems are a reflection of the crisis across the nation. Not surprisingly, the United States ranks last in preventable deaths compared to 14 Western European nations. We have a lot to talk about.

Lawrence D. Weiss retired from UAA in 2004 as a research professor in public health. He designed and built the Master of Public Health program at UAA, and has published three books and numerous articles on public health and health policy issues. He completed a post-doctoral degree at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, and has been in Alaska ever since. His favorite expression is "facts matter." Occasionally he can be found in a local pub drinking beer and eating pizza while engaged in passionate conversation with friends.

The "Reduced Shakespeare" of the History of American Medicine

Posted by health4all

Posted: July 14, 2008 - 3:51 pm

Have you ever heard of the Reduced Shakespeare Company? "The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a three-man comedy troupe known for taking long, serious subjects and reducing them into short, sharp comedies." Be patient--I will relate this to health policy. They perform The Complete Works of Shakespeare in just over an hour and a half, or as they put it, "37 plays in 97 minutes", or recount The Complete History of America in 100 minutes, alternatively, "500 years in 6,000 seconds". This is can't-stop-laughing British humor at its best, in my humble opinion.

So, to relate this to health policy, if you are interested in reading the best account (again--in my humble opinion) of the history of medical care in the United States, in other words how it got to be what it is and why, then I heartily recommend Paul Starr's classic The Social Transformation of American Medicine. This is one of the most interesting books you will ever read, and it is written in a non-technical narrative style that makes it as easy to read as a magazine article. Important note: This is NOT the "Reduced Shakespeare" version. It is 514 pages long.

But, if you are really, really short of time and want the 10 minute version of the history of American Medicine, then I recommend Doctor Wall Street: How the U.S. health-care system got so sick, By Jeremy Brecher. This IS a magazine article and, while not really humerous in the style of the Reduced Shakespeare, it does have a couple of very good accompanying cartoons.

login or register to post comments

Search Jobs | Place an employment ad

Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.

Daily News Jobs | RSS Feeds | ADN Store | Newspapers in Education | Privacy Agreement

Health4all

Less expensive health care

Health policy links

Visuals

Archive

The "Reduced Shakespeare" of the History of American Medicine