Health Security for All: Dreams of Universal Health Care in America

This provocative work explores the invention and reinvention of a fundamental goal of American social policy - universal health care. In Health Security for All, Alan Derickson examines the emergence of diverse proposals for all-encompassing health reform since the early twentieth century. This study discovers not only a number of imaginative arguments for extending health services but also an unexpectedly wide array of passionate advocates for universalism. An innovative approach to one of the great unresolved social and political problems of our time, Health Security for All will be of interest to social scientists, health policy scholars, historians, and idealists across the political spectrum.

Table of Contents:
Preface Chapter 1. A Fertile and Lively Cause of Poverty Chapter 2. One of the Most Radical Moves Ever Made Chapter 3. No Poor-Man's System Chapter 4. American Democratic Medicine Chapter 5. Well on the Way Chapter 6. As Much a Birthright as Education Epilogue: Alone Among the Developed Nations Acknowledgements Notes Index

About the Author :
Alan Derickson is professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

Review :
This book provides an intriguing recount of health care reform's storied and often tumultuous past. -- Ronald T. Ackermann, MD, MPH Annals of Internal Medicine Required reading for those interested in the life and death of health policy initiatives... Valuable primer on health policy. -- Eric G. Campbell, PhD JAMA Will surely resonate in the thoughts of policymakers... and anyone interested in a fairer and healthier society. -- Marian E. Gornick New England Journal of Medicine Derickson has rendered these ideas concerning access intelligible and the disputes over them comprehensible. -- Theodore R. Marmor Journal of American History Derickson's book is undoubtedly an important contribution that deserves a wide readership. -- Gerald N. Grob Psychiatric Services Anyone who wonders whether there is anything new that can be said about the issue must read Alan Derickson's marvelous book. -- Jill Quadagno Bulletin of the History of Medicine This is a book that asks the right questions and contains more than its share of provocative answers. -- Edward D. Berkowitz Journal of Social History A fascinating intellectual and political history of reform ideologies and debates. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law A fascinating intellectual and political history of reform ideologies and debates. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law Beautifully readable, scholarly, and brief (for its coverage). Educ'l Gerontology A valuable addition... The unique feature of the book is its focus on the goal of universalism, rather than the more narrow politics of national health insurance... grounded in discourses of needs, efficiency, and rights. -- Martin Gorsky Medical History