Jonathan Gruber

This book is a must-buy for public libraries; a few academic libraries may probably want to acquire it as well, especially to have handy for freshmen writing research papers relating to health care reform issues.

The book is a basic explanation of the Affordable Care Act as well as an argument for the need of reform in American health care. However, do not think that just because I say "basic" it is a simplistic book. Actually, the book provides very good, clear, concise explanations. It starts by laying out the current situation, the need for reform, and how the ACA moves towards that reform. The author is an economics scholar and one of the people who helped craft Massachusetts new health reform plan. The book also does a pretty good job to dispel the various myths and fear statements that opponents of reform have used to prevent reform from happening.

The books graphics are good. They are in black and white. Nothing fancy here, but the visual elements complements the content very nicely. If you want to learn more about the topic, this is certainly a very good place to start. If you have neighbors or friends who think it is all a conspiracy, that it is just "socialism in medicine," a government takeover, or other nonsense, hand them this book. It should help clear their objections. To be honest, maybe this is the kind of material we need for other forms of major legislation where the public needs to be educated. The book certainly is designed to educate the general reader on the topic, and it succeeds at that.… (mere)

Il documentario di Jonathan Gruber si concentra sulla sua nonna polacca, Pola Grunberg Susswein, 73 anni, una sopravvissuta alla Shoah, leader di gruppo durante la Marcia del Vivi nell'aprile del 1995. La sua nonna sopravvisse al Ghetto di Cracovia, Auschwitz, e una marcia di morte nelle settimane di chiusura della guerra. È venuta negli Usa nel 1947, ha tirato su una famiglia, ha lavorato come assistente sociale e ha fatto aliah nel 1972. Ora vive a Tel Aviv e serve come direttore volontario di un centro di anziani. Basato su 13 ore di video e 6 ore di interviste, Jonathan non usa filmati d'archivio o musiche in questa pellicola di un'ora. Vuole concentrarsi sul presente, e quindi mostra la nonna discutere le sue esperienze, lavorando a Tel Aviv e guidando il gruppo di adolescenti attraverso la Polonia.… (mere)

I was looking for a book I could share with people who are skeptical about the Obama healthcare plan, and gave this book a read.

It's very good. It explains in cartoons many complicated things in a way that is clear and compelling. There are lots of places where it presents facts that people just don't know well enough (for example, the administrative costs of medicare are WAY lower than any insurance provider).

But:

1. There are a number of places where I almost screamed out "whoa!! slow down!!" For instance, one thing you hear from people who really haven't thought through all this stuf is something like this: "I don't have health care and can't afford it. But I'm healthy (knock wood) and don't need it. I don't think we should be compelled to pay for the health care of others or for ourselves. If I do get sick, I'll just go without care or go to the emergency room." This is one of the most naive things someone can say when they're healthy. People just have no idea what their body will be telling them when they get sick (for the most part, their body will be telling them: Get some help! And if they're not listening to their own body, their loved ones will be compelling them to get help).

This is perhaps THE crucial point about the social psychology of getting sick in America. People don't understand what their own behavior will be; and they have no clue regarding the enormous costs they pass on when they don't get regular care. It's massive. *I* can't afford it (paying for ERs to help people who aren't covered). So please, would you naysayers get some coverage? In ObamaCare, if you genuinely can't afford it, you get credits from the government. This means that you can get regular care and not go to the ER -- you save me money!

The book blows through this problem (the "go it alone" types) in two pages. I was just listening to NPR interview some people in rural Wisconsin, and they said the usual right-wing things about ObamaCare: But I'm afraid that they simply don't know what happens and the massive costs they will accrue: Paid by people like me: ordinary tax payers.

2. A weird thing about this book is that the point of view of the author is a be-suited smart guy with glasses. He just looks like a nerd scientist/professor -- which he is of course (MIT Econ. prof.). The problem is, though, that the persona is just a policy wonk know-it-all. The book really misunderstands its audience. This should be a book that appeals to people who hate "experts."

3. And, of course, ObamaCare is complex. Really, really complex. The problem here is that the book is very quiet on the core reason: ObamaCare is about tossing some profits to the insurance companies so that they will go ahead with this wholesale revision of the American healthcare system.

4. Because it's so complex, in the end, it's really an argument for -- guess what? -- single payer health care. You get to the end of the book, and the whole thing is this massive Rube Goldberg machine.

So, read it and weep. I wish this was the book you could pass on to your conservative relatives, but it really isn't. It goes too fast in the sore points, and presents its claims through a smarty-pants policy wonk who "has all the answers" instead of working through narratives of how regular people live. To be sure, there are gestures in the direction of what I'm talking about, but it's too schematic.
… (mere)