Beyond Health Insurance by Robert Kaestner, Anthony Lo Sasso,... - 9781848551800

Beyond Health InsurancePublic Policy to Improve Health\nAuthor(s): Robert Kaestner, Anthony Lo Sasso, Lorens Helmchen\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Emerald Publishing Limited, United Kingdom\nImprint: Emerald Group Publishing Limited\nISBN-13: 9781848551800, 978-1848551800\nSynopsis\nMuch of the debate about health policy in the United States has focused on the availability of health insurance coverage and the relatively large number of individuals who are uninsured. While tackling the problem of the uninsured might improve access to and utilization of health care, it would likely have little effect on the health of the population, as there is only a weak connection between health insurance coverage and health. Expanding health insurance coverage alone is unlikely to significantly improve the health of the population or narrow health disparities within the population, given that many of the major causes of poor health such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity are largely unaf.