WHO SHALL LIVE? (3RD ED)

Since the first edition of Who Shall Live? (1974), over 100,000 students, teachers, physicians, and general readers from more than a dozen fields have found this book to be a reader-friendly, authoritative introduction to economic concepts applied to health and medical care.

Health care is by far the largest industry in the United States. It is three times larger than education and five times as large as national defense. In 2001, Americans spent over $12,500 per person for hospitals, physicians, drugs and other health care services and goods. Other high-income democracies spend one third less, enjoy three more years of life expectancy, and have more equal access to medical care.

In this book, each of the chapters of the original edition is followed by supplementary readings on such subjects as: 'Social Determinants of Health: Caveats and Nuances', 'The Structure of Medical Education — It's Time for a Change', and 'How to Save $1 Trillion Out of Health Care'.

The ten years following publication of the 2nd expanded edition in 2011 were arguably more turbulent for US health and health care than any other ten-year period since World War II. They span the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the deepening opioid epidemic, and the physical, psychological, and socio-economic traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An important new contribution to this book is to describe and analyze the changes in five sections: 'The Affordable Care Act and the Uninsured', 'Health Care Expenditures', 'Health Outcomes', 'The COVID-19 Pandemic', and 'Health and Politics'. This part includes 24 tables and figures.

This book will be welcomed by students, professionals, and life-long learners to gain increased understanding of the relation between health, economics, and social choice.

Contents:

• About the Book
• About the Authors
• Preface
• Who Shall Live?:
  • Introduction
  • Health and Economics
  • Problems and Choices
  • Who Shall Live?
  • The Physician: The Captain of the Team
  • The Hospital: The House of Hope
  • Drugs: The Key to Modern Medicine
  • Paying for Medical Care
  • Health and Social Choice
  • Notes
• Supplementary Reading:
  • Problems and Choices
  • Who Shall Live
  • The Physician: The Captain of the Team
  • The Hospital: The House of Hope
  • Drugs: The Key to Modern Medicine
  • Paying for Medical Care
  • Conclusion
• Summary of Years 2012–2021:
  • The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Uninsured
  • Health Care Expenditures
  • Health Outcomes
  • The COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Health and Politics
• A Look to the Future
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix Table. Data on State Health Outcomes, Republican Presidential Candidate Share of Two Candidates' Votes, Abortion Attitudes, and Educational Attainment
• Index

Readership: Undergraduates in economics, sociology, human biology and public policy; graduate students in medicine, public health and public policy; physicians and other health professionals.

'Vic Fuchs' Who Shall Live? is the most important book ever on health economics. It has inspired us all these many years, and it is terrific to see a new edition, post-Obamacare and post-pandemic.' - Sir Angus S DeatonRecipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics 2015

'In considering the great health challenges of our time Victor Fuchs' work remains more important than ever. In the third edition, Fuchs' seminal text has been expanded to reflect recent policy and politics. It remains essential reading to better understand the complex interaction between social determinants, health and health care costs.' - Victor J Dzau, MDPresident, National Academy of Medicine

'The problems addressed in this classic book, especially unequal access to health care, rising costs, and poor health outcomes, are just as relevant now as they were when the first edition appeared in 1974. The third edition includes updated analyses and materials about the most significant health policy questions.' - Janet CurriePresident-elect American Economic Association 2023

'Few, if any, social scientists have had more influence on thought and action in health care policy than Victor Fuchs. His greatest contribution may well be his prescient 1974 masterpiece, Who Shall Live?. Fuchs and Eggleston have updated this work and anyone who cares about health care policy should study this book, master its messages, and act.' - Donald M Berwick, MDFormer Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

'Who Shall Live? is the first book I read on health economics, and it is still the best. Few economists of any stripe are as wise as Fuchs and I thoroughly welcome this update of his classic text.' - Anne C CaseProfessor of Economics and Public Affairs, Emeritus, Princeton University

'Two decades since being assigned Who Shall Live? as foundational reading for my PhD in Health Policy, I urge my students in the Medical School and the Graduate School of Business to read this compact up-to-date new edition to better prepare for reform of US health care.' - Sara SingerProfessor of Medicine, Stanford University

Key Features:

• Classic introduction to the concepts of health economics and the strengths and limitations of economics for informing health policy, explained in simple language accessible to non-experts
• Updated with new introduction and reprints covering the past decade of the US health system, from the ACA to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Provides some comparison with the health care systems and health outcomes of other high-income economies