Our Unsystematic Healthcare System - 5th Edition by Grace Budrys (Paperback)

About the Book

A comprehensive and critical introduction to the U.S. healthcare system

Book Synopsis

A comprehensive and critical introduction to the U.S. healthcare system

Review Quotes

Our Unsystematic Healthcare System fills a niche not addressed by other introductory texts about the health care system of the United States. Budrys provides an accessible narrative that illuminates both social and historical influences on the extant system. This book enriches the discussion about our problematic approach to care by offering explanations.

This fifth edition of Our Unsystematic Healthcare System is an outstanding, realistic description and critical analysis of the US and other national healthcare systems. This is an honest, comprehensive, clearly written book, which parts the curtains on the history and contemporary structure of the US healthcare system and its medical, economic, political, and social influences. Excellent textbook for anyone interested in understanding and reforming the US healthcare system.

Our Unsystematic Healthcare System is a must-read for anyone interested in how the organizational structure of the healthcare system affects the health of the people it is intended to serve. I've used this book since I started teaching. It is comprehensive, yet accessible to a wide audience.

A succinct, up-to-date, and informative look at our health system. This resource is one that students will find straightforward and easy to consume, which is a big plus, since these topics get complicated with many intersecting and often competing stakeholder interests, systems, and infrastructures needed to make it work. The book is well-written, with straightforward language and a thorough, comprehensive presentation - engaging and informative.

Budrys once again uses academic storytelling at its finest by weaving together the complex interplay of healthcare stakeholders, social systems, and public policy - while carefully acknowledging the essential context of U.S. history, culture, and values. The fifth edition of Our Unsystematic Healthcare System boasts a new section exploring the story of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry that describes key influences and processes that have resulted in the current problem of high drug prices. As a pharmacy educator, I can attest that it is rare to find a source on this topic with a concise explanation of the interaction between public and private sectors on research/discovery, patents, intermediary organizations, as well as the ethics and influence of marketing and lobbying. Overall, this text is both accessible to novices as well as professionals looking to widen their perspectives on the how's and why's of the U.S. healthcare system.

Budrys' Our Unsystematic Healthcare System is timely, informative, logical, and strikes a perfect balance between conversational and academic writing. Useful to students, professors, and the broader public, it is my favorite text for medical sociology classes, and it should be required reading for policy makers.

With a writing style that encourages an active learning environment, Budrys offers students from a range of academic backgrounds in-depth exposure to the complexities of the American healthcare system.

About the Author

Grace Budrys is Professor Emerita of Sociology at DePaul University in Chicago. She is the author of numerous books, including Market-Based Health Care: All Myth, No Reality, Unequal Health: How Inequality Contributes to Health or Illness, Third Edition, and How Nonprofits Work. In addition to teaching, she chaired the Department of Public Services and the Masters of Public Health programs at DePaul University.