The Care of the Uninsured in America

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Who Are the Uninsured?

   • Howard Eng

   Pages 1-20

3. Why Are People Uninsured?

   • Nancy J. Johnson

   Pages 21-33

4. The Culture of Poverty and the Uninsured

   • Nancy Johnson

   Pages 35-44

5. Health Disparities and the Uninsured

   • Nancy J. Johnson

   Pages 45-61

6. Providers of Care for the Uninsured

   • Nancy J. Johnson

   Pages 63-85

7. Chronic Disease and the Uninsured

   • Nancy J. Johnson

   Pages 87-108

8. Medical Homes ( preferably “Health Home”) and the Uninsured

   • Nancy J. Johnson

   Pages 109-127

9. Medication Assistance for the Uninsured

   • Nancy J. Johnson, Janet S. Smith

   Pages 129-144

10. Medically Uninsured Refugees and Immigrants

    • Lane P. Johnson

    Pages 145-151

11. Medically Uninsured and the Homeless

    • Jennifer Vanderleest

    Pages 153-160

12. Care of Underserved People with Mental Illness

    • Francisco A. Moreno, Sarah Heron

    Pages 161-170

13. Medically Uninsured Older Americans

    • Lynne Tomasa

    Pages 171-186

14. Direct Caregivers Association: An Option for a Rapidly Growing Aging Population?

    • Judith B. Clinco

    Pages 187-194

15. The Rural Uninsured

    • Lane P. Johnson

    Pages 195-204

16. Dental Care for the Uninsured

    • Lane P. Johnson

    Pages 205-215

17. Uninsured Children at School

    • Fran Bartholomeaux, Nancy J. Johnson

    Pages 217-230

18. Building Community Collaborations Around Care for the Uninsured

    • Nancy J. Johnson

    Pages 231-241

19. Information Technology and Medically Uninsured

    • Theresa Cullen

    Pages 243-257

20. The Role of Government in Providing Health Care to the Uninsured

    • James E. Dalen

    Pages 259-270

As Dr. Cullen’s chapter on information technology points out, what is required is not just a new electronic system that follows the patients, but a new language that creates and defines a system that can appropriately care for the patient. What we design for the complexities of caring for the medically underserved can serve as model for caring for everyone in this country. Many innovative, bold, and wonderful solutions have been developed as local/ regional models. As communities and states we can learn from, and support, each other. But the local models are not, by and large, self-sustaining. Ultimately, so- tions to the lack of medical insurance in this country will require a national persp- tive, and federal funding. That is part of the work we all must do, and Dr. Dalen’s chapter points out some of the possibilities and pitfalls other countries have experienced. When I wonder how the system we have hasn’t already collapsed from its own weight, I just need to look at the people working within it. Healthcare is a service industry, and we have been blessed with professionals who understand and live the concept of service in their daily lives, who go the extra mile for the patient despite the vagaries, the barriers, and the sometimes mean spiritedness of the organi- tional infrastructure.

• access to care
• care program
• community health
• disease management
• health care
• health care costs
• health care system
• health disparities
• health insurance
• health policy
• patients
• poor
• poverty
• public health
• universal health care

From the reviews: “This book addresses the growing problem of the uninsured from the perspective of the root causes and discusses strategies for providing care. … the book would be useful to graduate health professional students or those studying health policy. … this book presents case scenarios and more personal accounts of the problem in a more academic way, lending itself to use in the classroom.” (Carole Ann Kenner, Doody’s Review Service, March, 2010) “Nancy Johnson … have edited a new textbook about the care of the uninsured. The Care of the Uninsured in America is long on statistics and chock full of programmatic examples, including reproduced diagrams, charts, surveys, and copies of flyers. The Johnsons recruited colleagues … to supply the 20 essays that comprise the chapters of this book, which is aimed at policy makers and undergraduate and graduate classrooms of schools of public and community health. … The chapters contain thorough references … .” (Jeff Levin-Scherz, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 303 (23), 2010)

• St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic, Tucson, U.S.A.

  Nancy J. Johnson

• Arizona Health Science Center, Tucson, U.S.A.

  Lane P. Johnson

Nancy J. Johnson is Chief Operating Officer at El Rio Community Health Center in Tuscon, Arizona. She is also President of Quality Health Consultants, a healthcare consultancy.

Lane P. Johnson is Director of the MD/MPH program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He is the author of the Clinical Pocket Guide to Herbal Remedies (Blackwell, 2002).

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