NOTE: This is an update and repost of a diary I published late Friday afternoon.
Ever since he left the chairmanship of the DNC, Howard Dean has been a vocal leader for the cause of healthcare reform in America. In his soon-to-be-released book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer, Dean outlines the case for what needs to be done to successfully reform healthcare.
*Give every American the choice of public or private healthcare insurance
*Public health coverage for life, no matter where you live or work
*No forced moves if the consumer is happy with current coverage
*Small business assistance from the government for employee plans
*No American is disqualified for an existing health condition
*Similar premium costs for everyone, despite age or illness
*Fewer dollars spent on management and more on medicine
In a video on the book's Web site, Dean describes what the book is--and is not--about.
The real issue in the debate, Dean writes,
...is not whether we should have "socialized medicine" or not. It’s whether we should continue with an extraordinarily inefficient system that today features a private insurance industry that takes large amounts of money out of the healthcare system for shareholders, administrators, and executives, while denying people the basic coverage they have paid for.
Dean also looks at the devastating impact on the American economy, as rising health care costs cause a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds, 14,000 people lose their health insurance every day. Rising health care costs are also one of the major reasons why small businesses close down and corporations ship jobs overseas.
According to the publisher, Chelsea Green, the book will be available as an e-book in all formats the week of June 8, 2009, then released as a printed paperback on July 1, 2009. It will also be released as an iPhone application available for download in the iTunes App Store. The official publication date is July 20, 2009.
Visit the book's Web site for more information.