Health Care Reform : What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How It Works

Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How It Worksis a deeply informed, opinionated, immediately accessible explanation of why health care reform is essential, why the legislation Congress passed is our best bet for solving the problem, and why it would be disastrous if we revoked it. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans are against health care reform. Polls also show that the majority of Americans simply do not understand what is at stake, how reform works, and what its immediate and long-term consequences will be. Health Care Reformexplains the stakes, means, and consequences with the immediacy of comics and the authority that only Jonathan Gruber can bring. And with the award-winning illustrator Dean Motter using a visual style reminiscent of the political cartoons of Thomas Nash and Walt Kelly, the book will leave no one in doubt: Americans can no longer afford to be ignorant of the facts. Few experts know more about America's dire need of health care reform than Gruber. And of that short list, he is the only one prepared to enter the pages of a comic book to make the case. To be clear: Gruber is not anexpert; he is theexpert. An award-winning MIT economist and the director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, he was a key architect of the ambitious health care reform effort in Massachusetts and is a member of the Health Connector Board now implementing it; in 2006 he was named by Modern Healthcareas the nineteenth most powerful person in health care in the United States. In 2008 he was a consultant to the Clinton, Edwards, and Obama presidential campaigns. The national legislation passed by Congress in 2009 derives directly from Gruber's insights learned during the Massachusetts health care debate.

Dr. Jonathan Gruber is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was a key architect of Massachusetts’s ambitious health reform effort and consulted extensively with the Obama administration and Congress during the development of the Affordable Care Act. The Washington Post called him “possibly the [Democratic] party’s most influential health-care expert.” Nathan Schreiber’s comics have appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Overflow, and Smith Magazine and on ACT-I-VATE.com. His comic Power Out won a Xeric award and has been nominated for an Eisner award and multiple Harvey awards.

“Jonathan Gruber, one of the country’s smartest health care minds, has brought the epic struggle of health reform to life. By explaining the challenges in our health care system as well as the benefits of the reform with imagination and verve, he accomplishes what many have tried and failed at—he makes the case for health reform as an important achievement for the American people.” —Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress

“Having spent years working to make health care work for Americans, Jonathan Gruber has now provided another service: walking everyone through the benefits of the Affordable Care Act reforms so consumers are armed with accessible information. In an age when information is power, Gruber’s book is fun and informative, and it boils down the facts of health care reform for all Americans.” —Senator John Kerry “If you want to learn about health care reform, you can do no better than to learn from the master. Jonathan Gruber shows how health care reform works in a way that everyone can understand. Read this book. You will not regret it.” —David Cutler, Professor, Department of Economics and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University “Jonathan Gruber’s straightforward explanation of what the Affordable Care Act does and why will help people understand what’s true and what’s false about the health reform law. His message is clear and easy to get: when it comes to health care, we’re all in it together; and, together, we will benefit from making the Affordable Care Act a success.” —Judy Feder, Professor and former Dean, Georgetown Public Policy Institute