Health & Fitness : Health Care Issues

America's health care system is unraveling. Every day, millions of hard-working people struggle to find affordable medical treatment for themselves and their families—unable to pay for prescription drugs and regular checkups, let alone hospital visits. Some of these people end up losing money. Others end up losing something even more valuable: their health or even their lives. In this powerful work of original reportage, Jonathan Cohn travels across the United States—the only country in the developed world that does not guarantee access to medical care as a right of citizenship—to investigate why this crisis is happening and to see firsthand its impact on ordinary Americans. The stories he brings back are tragic and infuriating. In Boston, a heart attack victim becomes a casualty of emergency room overcrowding when she is turned away from the one hospital that could treat her. In South Central L.A., a security guard loses part of his vision when he can't find affordable treatment for his diabetes. In the middle of the prairie heartland, a retired meatpacker sells his house to pay for the medications that keep him and his aging wife alive. And, in a tiny village tucked into the Catskill mountains, a mother of three young children decides against a costly doctor's visit—and lets a deadly cancer go undetected—because her husband's high-tech job no longer provides health insurance. Passionate, illuminating, and often devastating, Sick interweaves these stories with clear-eyed reporting from Washington and takes us inside the medical industry to chronicle the decline of America's health care system—and lays bare the consequences any one of us could suffer if we don't replace it. more...

Price: $11.99

Independent living with smart technologies Smart Technology for Aging, Disability, and Independence: The State of the Science brings together current research and technological developments from engineering, computer science, and the rehabilitation sciences, detailing how its applications can promote continuing independence for older persons and those with disabilities. more...

Price: $101.95

In both industrialized and lessdeveloped societies, cancer incidence and survival are related to socioeconomic factors. This fascinating volume, the first to examine the magnitude of these socioeconomic differences in relation to cancer, provides vital information for all those interested in public health. Cancer incidence and survival are related to socioeconomic status in both industrialized and less developed countries. These differences can be explained, in part, by known risk factors, particularly tobacco smoke, occupational exposures, reproductive behaviour, diet and biological agents. The volume presents general considerations, evidence of social inequalities in cancer, explanations for social inequalities in cancer, and socioeconomic differences in health care. more...

Price: $69.00

disparity has drawn attention to the remarkable sensitivity of health to the social environment. This publication examines this social gradient in health, and explains how psychological and social influences affect physical health and longevity. It then looks at what is known about the most important social determinants of health today, and the role that public policy can play in shaping a social environment that is more conducive to better health. This second edition relies on the most up-to-date sources in its selection and description of the main social determinants of health in our society today. Key research sources are given for each: stress, early life, social exclusion, working conditions, unemployment, social support, addiction, healthy food and transport policy. Policy and action for health need to address the social determinants of health, attacking the causes of ill health before they can lead to problems. This is a challenging task for both decision-makers and public health actors and advocates. This publication provides the facts and the policy options that will enable them to act. more...

Price: $22.50

Dr. Prasad contends that smoking is a problem of the mind, not of nicotine addiction. Why do most people who try to quit smoking fail-even with the help of the nicotine patch, gum, medications, hypnotism, or other state-of-the-art aids? In his radical approach to conquering the smoking habit, Dr. Balasa Prasad states that these crutches are ineffective because they futilely focus on nicotine addiction instead of the underlying psychological triggers that enslave smokers to their habits. His inspirational and practical program gives readers a confidence in their inner strength, helps them identify their addictive profile with the use of questionnaires, and provides a powerful three-step plan that will help them kick the habit once and for all. more...

Price: $11.95