We’ve got you covered
I got introduced to the authoress (Amy Finklestein) through a few Freaknomoics podcast, so when hunting around for a book to read, I decided this to be the book. I was absolutely enthralled by the book from beginning to end, where they talk about the history of health insurance in the USA, why health insurance is the way it is, why its so hard to change, and why it probably will change inevitably into some form of universal healthcare (hint, its almost already there!).
The book is not just a history book, its also a book on how they would like to change healthcare if they were given god-like powers in the USA. It also talks about how close we were to getting universal health care a few times in the US history, and how actually both parties support some form of it for everyone (Romneycare, Obamacare).
This is one of those books on health insurance that did not leave me feeling more depressed about the system than when I started and I’m actually grateful for it. The book is quite well researched, quite well written, and has a central thesis that I feel everyone can support. The usual, “how are we going to pay for it” is actually well thought out, and the “what do we do with all the private insurance folks” is also somewhat addressed.
Probably the quote that I felt best about the American Health Care system from the late, great Walter Cronkite..
A former CBS anchorman, Walter Cronkite, characterized the American healthcare system as “neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”
Definitely a book worth reading if you have any interest at all that the mess of the American Healthcare Insurance market is like, with the bonus that there might actually be a fix!
Highly recommended.