Beyond health insurance: public policy to improve health. Introduction.
This volume initiates, we hope, a greater focus in the health policy debate on the improvement of health and a departure from the fixation on health insurance. As was observed by Steven Schroeder in the 2007 Shattuck Lecture last year, health care's proportional contribution to premature death is only 10%, compared with behavioral patterns (40%), genetic predisposition (30%), and social circumstances (15%) (Schroeder, 2007). A lesson from the research presented in this volume is that improving health is difficult, far more difficult than simply spending tax dollars to expand health insurance. It is our hope that follow-up work carries this mantle forward in new and innovative ways.
Helmchen
Lorens
L
Kaestner
Robert
R
Sasso
Anthony Lo
AL
D003226:Congresses as Topic; D004345:Drug Industry; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D007348:Insurance, Health; D011640:Public Policy; D014481:United States