num_pages: 240
description: 
  
    
      A much-needed and hard-hitting plan, from one of the great Democratic minds of our time, to reform Americaâ€™s broken health-care system. 
    
    Undoubtedly, the biggest domestic policy issue in the coming years will be Americaâ€™s health-care system. Millions of Americans go without medical care because they canâ€™t afford it, and many others are mired in debt because they canâ€™t pay their medical bills. Itâ€™s hard to think of another public policy problem that has lingered unaddressed for so long. Why have we failed to solve a problem that is such a high priority for so many citizens?
     Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle believes the problem is rooted in the complexity of the health-care issue and the power of the interest groupsâ€”doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug companies, researchers, patient advocatesâ€”that have a direct stake in it. Rather than simply pointing out the major flaws and placing blame, Daschle offers key solutions and creates a blueprint for solving the crisis. 
     Daschleâ€™s solution lies in the Federal Reserve Board, which has overseen the equally complicated financial system with great success. A Fed-like health board would offer a public framework within which a private health-care system can operate more effectively and efficientlyâ€”insulated from political pressure yet accountable to elected officials and the American people. Daschle argues that this independent board would create a single standard of care and exert tremendous influence on every other provider and payer, even those in the private sector.
     After decades of failed incremental measures, the American health-care system remains fundamentally broken and requires a comprehensive fix. With his bold and forward-looking plan, Daschle points us to the solution. 
  

language: English
title: Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis
publisher: Thomas Dunne Books