An American Sickness

Posted on 20 September 2017 by Elisabeth Rosenthal

A New York Times bestseller A Washington Post Notable Book of the YearAt a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems.In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled quickly and completely than American medicine In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life fatalism has set in Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying for less How did things get so bad so fast Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw.The system is in tatters, but we can fight back Dr Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn t just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve She takes you inside the doctor patient relationship and to hospital C suites, explaining step by step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far reaching reform An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well being at heart. Free Read An American Sickness [ author ] Elisabeth Rosenthal [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Audiobook read by Nancy Linari who was excellent. But.there is soooooo MUCH INFORMATION I almost wish I had bought the hardcopy I bought the audiobook instead which has advantages and disadvantages The advantage for me was the easy listening taking in an overview but some parts were so detailed she lost me of what Dr Elizabeth L Rosenthal had to say who was appointed editor in chief of Kaiser health news in 2016, afterthan two decades with the New York Times She Audiobook read by Nancy Linari who was excellent. But.there is soooooo MUCH INFORMATION I almost wish I had bought the hardcopy I bought the audiobook instead which has advantages and disadvantages The advantage for me was the easy listening taking in an overview but some parts were so detailed she lost me of what Dr Elizabeth L Rosenthal had to say who was appointed editor in chief of Kaiser health news in 2016, afterthan two decades with the New York Times She received a BS degree in biology from Stanford University, an M A degree in English literature from Cambridge University, and an M.D degree from Harvard medical school The disadvantage is I don t have an easy to refer book to open for some USEFUL information Especially towards the end Dr Rosenthal gives some great tips for patients I didn t take notes I simply listened on and off since I purchased this audiobook last month My favorite location for listening to this book of all places was when soaking in the warm pool My reasoning...This is an outstanding book that should be read by anyone interested in healthcare and current US healthcare debates The book is not about Democrats versus Republicans or about Obamacare and various ongoing efforts to change it The author is a physician and former NYT writer who knows much about both the practice of medicine and the business of healthcare The point of the book is that the healthcare sector industry has come to adopt a business model that is out to fully monetize every aspect This is an outstanding book that should be read by anyone interested in healthcare and current US healthcare debates The book is not about Democrats versus Republicans or about Obamacare and various ongoing efforts to change it The author is a physician and former NYT writer who knows much about both the practice of medicine and the business of healthcare The point of the book is...Doctors, Hospital employees, medical device reps, Health insurance agents anyone in Pharma should read this book Anyone who touches medical care in any way should read this book Anyone interested in healthcare reform should read this book The nation is fixated on Healthcare Reform but most Americans don t seem to understand that the rising cost of healthcare hasto due with the lack of transparency in pricing and the Byzantine American healthcare chaos system would be too generous a c Doctors, Hospital employees, medical device reps, Health insurance agents anyone in Pharma should read this book Anyone who touches medical care in any way should read this book Anyone inter...Well written expose of our healthcare systemAs a physician who practiced 35 years and recently retired, I have seen first hand much of what the author describes It is extremely well researched and well written It should be required...really good write up on an overly complex system This book is really well sourced and approachable A lot of the content would be funny if it weren t so tragicThis is certainly a very provocative book I amthan a light user of the U.S healthcare system, and have personally experienced a fair number of ordeals described in the book even I was shocked by case after case of runaway patient bills being cited There are three major and mutually dependent factors in any healthcare system quality, cost and accessibility The author Elisabeth Rosenthal primarily tackled one of them cost If we compare the dysfunctional U.S healthcare system as a si This is certainly a very provocative book I amthan a light user of the U.S healthcare system, and have personally experienced a fair number of ordeals described in the book even I was shocked by case after case of runaway patient bills being cited There are three major and mutually dependent factors in any healthcare system quality, cost and accessibility The author Elisabeth Rosenthal primarily tackled one of them cost If we compare the dysfunctional U.S healthcare system as a sick patient, Rosenthal spent 2 3 of the major portion of the book giving the symptoms, e.g exorbitant patient bills, wasteful medical procedures, transparent pricing, etc and her diagnosis, the focus of the system pivoting from health and science to profit making in the last quarter of a century Hospitals, doctors, drug and medical device companies, with the assistance of consultants, trade associations, lobbyists, politicians, etc have all been shameless...If you are lucky every year you ll stumble across one or two non fiction books that are so on topic for the current discussion with both tons of useful and informative examples and lots resources and ideas to move forward This is the book to ...My 80s something mother in law gave me this book, because she wants her children to have the best tools available to navigate the dysfunctional American health care system It s a excellent read, diagnosing the illness in the first two thirds of the book, and providing, if not a cure, and least a set of therapies for coping with the sickness in the last third It dissects the interrelated disease organ by organ, the 1 insurance companies, 2 hospitals, 3 pharmaceutical industry, 4 doctors, 5 My 80s something mother in law gave me this book, because she wants her children to have the best tools available to navigate the dysfunctional American health care system It s a excellent read, diagnosing the illness in the first two thirds of the book, and providing, if not a cure, and least a set of...I do most of my reading from the library and rarely buy books or reference them after the fact I m seriously considering buying this one I work in the healthcare industry and am familiar with some of the practices that impact my corner of the healthcare world But even though I consider myself to be someoneknowledge than the average American, a lot of what I read just blew me away As discussion of our healthcare system is at the forefront, we ALL need to understand the financial motiva I do most of my reading from the library and rarely buy books or reference them after the fact I m seriously considering buying this one I work in the healthcare industry and am familiar with some of the practices that impact my corner of the healthcare world But even though I consider myself to be someoneknowledge than the average American, a lot of what I read just blew me away As discussion of our healthcare system is at the forefront, we ALL need to understand the financial motivations of the industry so that we can better evaluate some of the nonsense or counterproductive solutions put before us by elected officials and industry When we are swayed by carefully crafted sound bites into support things that ...I thought I knew quite a bit about the healthcare system, because of having some chronic health issues However, I quickly learned that my experiences were either to narrow in scope, or too old to really know our healthcare system I knew that our system ranked as one of the worlds worst, for providing quality healthcare to the citizens it s suppose to serve This book not only shattered any preconceived thoughts of what I thoughts were redeeming values in the system Americans call a healthcar I thought I knew quite a bit about the healthcare system, because of having some chronic health issues However, I quickly learned that my experiences were either to narrow in scope, or too old to really know our healthcare system I knew that our system ranked as one of the worlds worst, for providing quality healthcare to the citizens it s suppose to serve This book not only shattered any preconceived thoughts of what I thoughts were redeeming values in the system Americans call a healthcare system It also explained why, and the many, many problems that are inherent in it.Therefor, I am writing this review, something I rarely do In hopes that manypeople will read this book and not only understand how to reduce the cost of this system in their own lives And to take any action they can politically, to make major changes for improvement This book is extremely well researched and written Using real peo...

20 September 2017

Elisabeth Rosenthal