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Hazards of the American Health Care System: No Treatment, Under-Treatment, and Over-Treatment

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Risk and Society: The Interaction of Science, Technology and Public Policy

Part of the book series: Technology, Risk, and Society ((RISKGOSO,volume 6))

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Abstract

Although the vast majority of Americans are covered by some form of health care insurance, the coverage is incomplete. It usually involves some form of co- payment and/or deductible on the part of the patient; it does not include all beneficial health care goods and services; and it does not include all individuals. Most people are well aware of some of the dire consequences of the large gaps in the patchwork of insurance coverage, for the media frequently portray stories about patients who seem to have been left out of the health care system: an AIDS patient who cannot afford the latest drug, an end-stage cardiac disease patient who cannot pay for a heart transplant, a leukemia patient who cannot afford the search for a compatible bone marrow donor.

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Marvin Waterstone

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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Mathieu, D. (1992). Hazards of the American Health Care System: No Treatment, Under-Treatment, and Over-Treatment. In: Waterstone, M. (eds) Risk and Society: The Interaction of Science, Technology and Public Policy. Technology, Risk, and Society, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3634-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3634-1_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5613-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3634-1

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