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An American Sickness
- How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
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Publisher's summary
Award-winning New York Times reporter Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal reveals the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American health-care system and tells us exactly what we can do to solve its myriad of problems.
It is well documented that our health-care system has grave problems, but how, in only a matter of decades, did things get this bad? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms; she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. Rosenthal spells out in clear and practical terms 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, explaining step by step the workings of a profession sorely lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate a byzantine system and also to demand far-reaching reform.
Breaking down the monolithic business into its individual industries - the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, drug manufacturers - that together constitute our health-care system, Rosenthal tells the story of the history of American medicine as never before. The situation is far worse than we think, and it has become like that much more recently than we realize. Hospitals, 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. Americans are dying from routine medical conditions when affordable and straightforward solutions exist.
Dr. Rosenthal explains for the first time how various social and financial incentives have encouraged a disastrous and immoral system to spring up organically in a shockingly short span of time. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a health-care system that no longer has our well-being at heart.
Critic reviews
"An eye opening discussion ... [An] important book.... Rosenthal told an interviewer her goal was to 'start a very loud conversation' that will be 'difficult politically to ignore.' We need such a conversation - not just about how the market fails, but about how we can change the political realities that stand in the way of fixing it.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“In this in-depth analysis of a malfunctioning system, Rosenthal makes a compelling case against the hospital and pharmaceutical executives behind the 'money chase,' and it’s hard to imagine a more educated, credible guide...The patients she interviewed share mind-boggling stories...She builds her case with one damning statistic after another...Rosenthal presents solutions both personal and societal in this commanding and necessary call to arms.” (Booklist [starred])
"Provocatively analyzes...Rosenthal unveils with surgical precision the 'dysfunctional medical market'...a startling cascade.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])
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What listeners say about An American Sickness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-12-18
Not well balanced
As a physician in a large healthcare system that has been given the job of increasing quality and lowering the total cost of care, I appreciate the calling out of many excesses and poor systems in our healthcare system. However, I felt that Dr. Rosenthal seemed to almost always assign a profit motive as the cause. There was almost always a judgement of the providers that did not fully explain the complexities of the given situation. For example, in a discussion of patient satisfaction and the resort like amenities at many hospitals, she summed up the reason as “CMS bonuses hospitals”. She fails to mention how small the “bonuses” are, that there are also penalties, and that the majority of hospitals get no bonus or penalty. She also fails to mention public expectations. I remember my patients refusing to go hospitals that had shared rooms. They wanted private rooms. Acting like hospitals added comfort amenities only to get a CMS bonus or to find ways to add charges is mostly inaccurate. This judgement and simple explanation is common throughout.
However, I applaud her efforts to call out the many excesses and suggest solutions. I wish that she had been less judgmental and not lumped all hospitals and physicians together with those who do have poor motives. The latter group is not small but it is also not the majority. Most of the problem is a system that drives many unintended consequences from people who do have good motives. I hope that her book will help us make positive changes in the US Healthcare system.
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42 people found this helpful
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- Shackleton
- 11-01-17
An incomplete picture of the US healthcare system
If you believe that the healthcare system used to be driven only by good intentions and care for patients and if you believe that currently the system is driven only by greed, then you will probably find this book extremely satisfying.
On the other hand, if you see that the current US healthcare system is complex and that desire for profit is only one element of that system, then you're probably going to spend a good deal of listening time thinking about all the information the author is excluding (seemingly because it doesn't support or add to her primary hypothesis). Hence, you may want to look for another book - or at least realize that you're only going to get a partial picture from this book.
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18 people found this helpful
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- Craig Schorling
- 06-17-17
Well Researched, Outlined, and Presented
This book captivated and held my interest from beginning to end. It was filled with relevant examples and anecdotes to help the reader understand the issues being addressed. Each chapter is well laid out and the order is very logical in its presentation. I love that the author constantly referred back to previous rules and guidelines throughout the entire book to help remind the reader of previously stated topics.
Rosenthal does not blame doctors or political sides in this book but rather points out all problems with our healthcare system. The portion where she describes what actions can be made to help improve our current heath care system are actually feasible. There was so much information in this book that was new to me and I feel like anybody that wants to learn more about our healthcare system should read this book.
I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is one of the best books I have read so far in 2017.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Dana
- 04-18-17
Must read for all Americans interested in health
There a great deal of information and history of how this mess of a health care system came to be. There are suggestions on how the evolution of a better system can be made. No one villain no quick fix everyone needs to be involved.
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12 people found this helpful
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- John Fortune
- 08-01-17
A Fascinating Must Read - Is it Onesided?
So much good and fascinating information in this book. I find it to be a must read for almost anyone over 30. We has patients need to be extremely diligent by taking as much control over our healthcare as possible and reasonable. It is not like the good old days when you just trusted everything the hospital and doctor told you and did to you.
Give how much good information is in this book - I did feel there as a major hole in that it was kind of one sided. When I spoke about some of the ideas in this book with some healthcare leaders I work with, they had some things to say that provided a different perspective. So just keep that in mind when reading.
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7 people found this helpful
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- R & R
- 04-13-17
Outstanding summary of our current healthcare situation
A must read for every American to better understand the issues stakeholders and patients face, how we got to this current situation, and why politicians are in a standoff over a solution that will work to keep cost down while providing high quality patient care. Very timely and a much needed release.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Jamo
- 06-05-17
Every American Needs to Read This Book
I've known that the system is broken and corrupt, but didn't understand the full scope of the problem until now. Thank you for breaking down the issues and providing solutions that patients can start to implement now. I'm definitely going to be a different kind of patient.
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4 people found this helpful
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- W. Sherer
- 04-18-17
Side effects may include switching cardiologists
A thoroughly researched and beautifully written analysis of the American health care system and why we pay so much more for so much less than any other industrialized nation. A must read for doctors and patients everywhere.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Laurie Johnson
- 08-14-17
A quick read.
Is there anything you would change about this book?
Shorten it. Less anecdotal, more to the point. Solutions were shallow and/or just impractical." Question medical personnel that visit you in the hospital to determine the legitimacy of the hospital billing program? C'mon.
Would you ever listen to anything by Elisabeth Rosenthal again?
Sorry - no.
Would you be willing to try another one of Nancy Linari’s performances?
Oh, sure.
Who do you think would benefit most from listening to An American Sickness?
It would make a good pamphlet for someone that feels they need a "medical industry summary for dummies". Which absolutely described me. So, I was glad I went through it, once.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Cherilyn Parsons
- 07-09-17
One of the most important books you'll read
Everyone needs to read this book, and urgently. It describes where and how the American healthcare industry has broken down, how that affects you, and what you can do about it, as an individual and citizen. I started putting this book into practice about halfway through and it has already changed my life. I listened to this book and now am going out to buy a print copy, worth every dime in hardcover, because I need to make copies of the pages of advice for going to a doctor, evaluating whether to get a test, etc. I will make copies of the relevant pages to have with me for time in the hospital, as a cheat sheet, to protect both my health and pocketbook.
The health care reality that Rosenthal describes is enraging, and something that I have experienced thankfully at lesser levels than some of the people described in the book. She explains everything thoroughly and clearly, and the book is written at a perfect pitch, sophisticated and yet not overly technical, illuminating the societal levels of the issues but also making them very practical. Best health advice you'll receiveall this year: get this book.
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-
Story
One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of price-gouging, middlemen and a series of elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up.
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-
Very important book!
- By Wayne on 05-17-21
By: Marty Makary MD
-
America's Bitter Pill
- Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System
- By: Steven Brill
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s Bitter Pill is Steven Brill’s acclaimed book on how the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was written, how it is being implemented, and, most important, how it is changing—and failing to change—the rampant abuses in the healthcare industry. It’s a fly-on-the-wall account of the titanic fight to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America’s largest, most dysfunctional industry. It’s a penetrating chronicle of how the profiteering that Brill first identified in his trailblazing Time magazine cover story continues, despite Obamacare.
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-
Great history, questionable solutions
- By Andrew S. Breza on 01-14-15
By: Steven Brill
-
Sickening
- How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It
- By: John Abramson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries - yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health-care professionals. Dr. John Abramson reveals the inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge.
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Great info, but I’m confused…
- By Iread on 04-04-22
By: John Abramson
-
Reframing Healthcare: A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change
- By: Zeev E. Neuwirth MD
- Narrated by: Zeev E. Neuwirth MD
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Zeev Neuwirth wrote Reframing Healthcare for leaders and organizations interested in understanding what the disrupters in healthcare are doing and, more to the point, for those who want to be the disrupters rather than the disrupted. This audiobook is a step-by-step guide for leadership teams that are intent on improving healthcare at an accelerated pace. It’s written for healthcare organizations that wish to thrive in a customer-centric, community-oriented, value-based healthcare system.
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-
Great content and resources
- By Galen on 07-12-19
-
Unaccountable
- What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care
- By: Marty Makary
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Marty Makary is co-developer of the life-saving checklist outlined in Atul Gawande's best-selling The Checklist Manifesto. As a busy surgeon who has worked in many of the best hospitals in the nation, he can testify to the amazing power of modern medicine to cure. But he's also been a witness to a medical culture that routinely leaves surgical sponges inside patients, amputates the wrong limbs, and overdoses children because of sloppy handwriting. Over the last 10 years, neither error rates nor costs have come down, despite scientific progress.
-
-
Everyone should read this book.
- By Julie on 06-11-16
By: Marty Makary
-
Pharma
- Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs such as antibiotics and vaccines rank among some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yet, exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs, safety recalls affecting tens of millions of Americans, and soaring rates of addiction and overdose on prescription opioids have caused many to lose faith in drug companies. Now, Americans are demanding a national reckoning with a monolithic industry.
-
-
Great book, but with some issues
- By Irina on 06-12-20
By: Gerald Posner
-
The Price We Pay
- What Broke American Health Care - and How to Fix It
- By: Marty Makary MD
- Narrated by: Marty Makary MD
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of price-gouging, middlemen and a series of elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up.
-
-
Very important book!
- By Wayne on 05-17-21
By: Marty Makary MD
-
America's Bitter Pill
- Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System
- By: Steven Brill
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s Bitter Pill is Steven Brill’s acclaimed book on how the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was written, how it is being implemented, and, most important, how it is changing—and failing to change—the rampant abuses in the healthcare industry. It’s a fly-on-the-wall account of the titanic fight to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America’s largest, most dysfunctional industry. It’s a penetrating chronicle of how the profiteering that Brill first identified in his trailblazing Time magazine cover story continues, despite Obamacare.
-
-
Great history, questionable solutions
- By Andrew S. Breza on 01-14-15
By: Steven Brill
-
Sickening
- How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It
- By: John Abramson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries - yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health-care professionals. Dr. John Abramson reveals the inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge.
-
-
Great info, but I’m confused…
- By Iread on 04-04-22
By: John Abramson
-
Reframing Healthcare: A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change
- By: Zeev E. Neuwirth MD
- Narrated by: Zeev E. Neuwirth MD
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Zeev Neuwirth wrote Reframing Healthcare for leaders and organizations interested in understanding what the disrupters in healthcare are doing and, more to the point, for those who want to be the disrupters rather than the disrupted. This audiobook is a step-by-step guide for leadership teams that are intent on improving healthcare at an accelerated pace. It’s written for healthcare organizations that wish to thrive in a customer-centric, community-oriented, value-based healthcare system.
-
-
Great content and resources
- By Galen on 07-12-19
-
Unaccountable
- What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care
- By: Marty Makary
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Marty Makary is co-developer of the life-saving checklist outlined in Atul Gawande's best-selling The Checklist Manifesto. As a busy surgeon who has worked in many of the best hospitals in the nation, he can testify to the amazing power of modern medicine to cure. But he's also been a witness to a medical culture that routinely leaves surgical sponges inside patients, amputates the wrong limbs, and overdoses children because of sloppy handwriting. Over the last 10 years, neither error rates nor costs have come down, despite scientific progress.
-
-
Everyone should read this book.
- By Julie on 06-11-16
By: Marty Makary
-
Pharma
- Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs such as antibiotics and vaccines rank among some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yet, exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs, safety recalls affecting tens of millions of Americans, and soaring rates of addiction and overdose on prescription opioids have caused many to lose faith in drug companies. Now, Americans are demanding a national reckoning with a monolithic industry.
-
-
Great book, but with some issues
- By Irina on 06-12-20
By: Gerald Posner
-
The Long Fix
- Solving America's Health Care Crisis with Strategies That Work for Everyone
- By: Vivian Lee
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Long Fix, physician and health-care CEO Vivian S. Lee, MD, cuts to the heart of the health-care crisis. The problem with the way medicine is practiced, she explains, is not so much who's paying, it's what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better - and that is both backward and dangerous.
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Unsatisfactory narration
- By Sara K on 10-16-20
By: Vivian Lee
-
Which Country Has the World's Best Health Care?
- By: Ezekiel J. Emanuel
- Narrated by: Rick Zieff
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The US spends more than any other nation, nearly four trillion dollars, on health care. Yet, for all that expense, the US is not ranked number one - not even close. In Which Country Has the World's Best Healthcare? Ezekiel Emanuel profiles 11 of the world's health-care systems in pursuit of the best or at least where excellence can be found.
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Confusing..
- By Cristi on 11-18-20
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Never Pay the First Bill
- And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win
- By: Marshall Allen
- Narrated by: Marshall Allen
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every year, millions of Americans are overcharged and underserved while the health-care industry makes record profits. We know something is wrong, but the layers of bureaucracy designed to discourage complaints make pushing back seem impossible. Never Pay the First Bill is the guerilla guide to health care the American people and employers need. Drawing on 15 years of investigating the health-care industry, reporter Marshall Allen shows how companies and individuals have managed to force medical providers to play fair and shows how you can, too.
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Comprehensive Guide To Not Getting F***d by Bills
- By Kindle Customer on 09-30-21
By: Marshall Allen
-
The Social Transformation of American Medicine
- The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry
- By: Paul Starr
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Considered the definitive history of the American healthcare system, The Social Transformation of American Medicine examines how the roles of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs have evolved over the last two and a half centuries. Updated with a new preface and an epilogue analyzing developments since the early 1980s, this new edition is a must-listen for anyone concerned about the future of our fraught healthcare system.
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Fascinating Survey of Healthcare in Amerixa
- By Rob