Victor G. Rodwin’s Universal Health Insurance In France: How Sustainable? Published By French Embassy
Victor G. Rodwin, professor of health policy and management at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, has assembled an original collection of essays on the financing and organization of French national health insurance (NHI). The book of essays, by himself and other leading experts on the French health care system, is published by the French Embassy in Washington D.C
The book represents a rare English-language collection of analyses on the French NHI. and arrives at a critical moment of renewed political interest, when many Americans express growing concerns about the rising numbers of uninsured people and rising out-of-pocket payments that have accompanied the growth of so-called “consumer-directed health care.” The idea for the book, Universal Health Insurance in France: How Sustainable? grew out of a colloquium on French health policy organized by Professor Rodwin at NYU Wagner. Co-sponsors included: René Jahiel, president of the Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes; the French-American Foundation; Rekindling Health Care Reform; and the International Longevity Center-USA.
“While American nostrums of unleashing market forces have made little headway in France, the organization and financing of the French health care system resembles, in many respects, that of the United States - more so, in fact, than does Britain’s National Health Service or Canadian and German national health insurance,” says Professor Rodwin.
Rodwin and his coauthors highlight the pluralistic character of the French health system: its public-private mix, which includes a significant proprietary hospital sector, its private fee-for-service medical practice, and its enormous patient choice among diverse forms of medical care provision. Notes Rodwin in his introduction, “French national health insurance is a model for what U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Pete Stark have called “`Medicare for all.’”
The book can be downloaded from NYU Wagner’s website: www.nyu.edu/wagner/health/universal.pdf . To interview Professor Rodwin, contact public affairs liaison Robert Polner at 212.998.2337.
Established in 1938, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service offers advanced programs leading to the professional degrees of Master of Public Administration, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Science in Management, and Doctor of Philosophy. Through these rigorous programs, NYU Wagner educates the future leaders of public, nonprofit, and health institutions as well as private organizations serving the public sector. http://wagner.nyu.edu