Obamacare critiqued from progressive point of view in new book

“The Bumbling Colossus: The Regulatory State vs. the Citizen; How Good Intentions Fail and the Example of Health Care: A New Progressive’s Guide” by Henry F. Field shows why health care must empower the individual and why government reform often fails

(PR NewsChannel) / July 17, 2012 / FRAMINGHAM, Mass.  

The Bumbling Colossus: The Regulatory State vs. the Citizen; How Good Intentions Fail and the Example of Health Care: A New Progressive's Guide

The Bumbling Colossus: The Regulatory State vs. the Citizen; How Good Intentions Fail and the Example of Health Care: A New Progressive's Guide by Henry F. Field

In “The Bumbling Colossus: The Regulatory State vs. the Citizen; How Good Intentions Fail and the Example of Health Care: A New Progressive’s Guide” (ISBN 1466445548), Henry F. Field shows why health care must empower the individual and why government reform often achieves just the opposite. The author operates from the viewpoint that true universal health care coverage is achievable but only if policymakers acknowledge the unpleasant realities of cost and stagnation, change their mental frame of reference to one more economically well-grounded, and understand the difference between helpful and harmful government regulation.

Field begins with a frank discussion of his own health care premiums. When he was self-employed in Chicago during the 1990s, he carried a health insurance policy with a $25,000 deductible, and his coverage cost him only $700 to $800 per year. When he moved to Massachusetts, a state that was in many ways a test run of the policies that would later be known as Obamacare, regulations prohibited carriers from offering such a high deductible. Instead, he paid over $4,000 annually for a plan with a $1,500 deductible. The financial absurdity only grew. When he needed an MRI, Massachusetts doctors could not tell him the price of the procedure. In a state with regulated low deductibles, physicians no longer had any incentive to actually know price and costs.

“The only relevant question was, ‘Who’s your insurer?’ so we can bill it,” writes Field.

Field warns this formula is being expanded onto the national level through increasing state and federal mandates exacerbated by the 2010 health care reform bill. Though they arise out of good, progressive ideals to find health insurance for everybody, this approach fails to engage with the raw reality of price escalation and the trade-off between cost controls and diminishing service that has made our system, and commonly touted single-payer alternatives, increasingly untenable. This remarkable book shows how progressives and liberals can retool their thinking and formulas to deal with health care without creating economic decline and achieve their intentions of helping working men and women. 

“The Bumbling Colossus” is a timely book whose comprehensive discussions about medical care systems and economics are written in a clear, concise manner that will be understandable to the average reader of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.       

“The Bumbling Colossus: The Regulatory State vs. the Citizen; How Good Intentions Fail and the Example of Health Care: A New Progressive’s Guide” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

About the Author: Henry F. Field earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his law degree from the University of Chicago. His work has been published in various legal journals and general publications.  

MEDIA CONTACT
Henry F. Field
E-mail:            
Phone:             (508) 872-1333 

REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE 

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Direct link:  https://prnewschannel.com/2012/07/17/obamacare-critiqued-from-progressive-point-of-view-in-new-book/

SOURCE:  Henry F. Field

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