A review by kimball_hansen
An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal

3.0

3 stars not because it was bad but because some parts of the book wasn't as engaging as others. Partially because I am unfamiliar with many terms and other related items. But I loved learning the history of health care. It all started in Texas by the nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield. Now look what it's become. All of it. Earliest health insurance was designed to compensate for income lost during illness and sickness.

There were times while reading this book that it made my blood boil. I hate, absolutely hate, the industry of medicine and insurance (not to mention lawyers). A great majority of you are crooks while a great number of us Commoners have our hands tied. More specifically I hate the administration of these hospitals and medical industry. Some of the actual doctors are plain Ñembotavy which is just as bad.

I'm annoyed with the whole martyr attitude that doctors have when they try to justify their pay and say they earn less than plumbers or teachers. Yet the typical doctor is living in a mansion and million dollar home. I don't see common teachers, plumbers, or others in that industry doing that.

Those debts that the author rattled off seem a little low.

I didn't realize there were that many coder jobs (not programming).

There's strategy in buying medicine or getting a procedure done in a foreign country and that difference could even pay for the airfare itself.

There are lots of good resources in the appendix of this book. Worth to have a hard copy.

Even if this book was majorly bias (unbeknownst to me) I think Americans should read it to help open their eyes and stop going with the flow.

I'm just glad that you don't get penalized for not having health insurance now. Stupid ObamaCare.