Number 1 on Amazon

My new health care book has been published

The Kindle edition of The Finance of Health Care is available and the hard copy can be preordered.

From the Introduction.

Why has medical insurance become so expensive—and complicated? Once upon a time, patients were “cash customers” for most of their med- ical expenses. A patient would see a doctor and pay—usually a him— five dollars for the office visit, and if the ailment were serious enough to require a prescription, the medicine could be purchased for a few dol- lars at a local pharmacy. I know from my own experience growing up in New York during the 1950s and early 1960s. That’s what my parents paid to have their children diagnosed and treated. There were no co-pays, no deductibles, and no insurance claim forms to fill out. And when my blue-collar father needed a hernia operation in April 1961, his employer-based insurance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, paid the bills. I don’t remem- ber if there were any out-of-pocket expenses my parents paid to either the surgeon, anesthesiologist, or Lenox Hill hospital where the surgery was performed. If my parents had to pay any expenses not covered by insurance, it was not onerous because I don’t remember them complaining that the medical bills were going to “wipe” out their savings….

How can employers navigate the medical insurance maze and offer their employees a benefit that would achieve several objectives: improve their health, provide them with access to competent primary physicians and specialists, and pay for hospital and other coverage for a major illness or chronic conditions? This is the challenge for employers.

My book provides a guide for business decision makers to “get it right” for their employees.