BOOK REVIEW: Sick. The Untold Story of America’s Health Care Crisis — and the People Who Pay the Price, by Jonathan Cohn.

In Sick, Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor at The New Republic and contributing editor at The American Prospect, examines some of the major failings of America’s healthcare financing system through the experiences of ordinary people. There is the story of Janice Ramsey, a self-employed consultant, who, after her health insurance was (illegally) canceled because she was diagnosed with diabetes, became the victim of an insurance scam made possible through lax federal oversight and state regulator confusion created by the federal ERISA statute. Cohn also discusses the case of the Rotzlers, a family that found itself without health insurance due to an economic downturn and cutbacks by Gary Rotzler’s employer. The result: Betsy Rotzler, wife and mother to two children, did not seek out needed medical care until it was too late. Then there is the story of Marijon Binder, an impoverished, retired nun who was hounded by a local Catholic hospital system and was eventually sued for an inflated hospital bill that she simply could not pay.

Through these stories, and those of another half dozen unfortunates, Cohn carefully describes the development of this country’s healthcare financing system and the problems that have arisen in that system as result of fragmented politics, perverse economic incentives, rising costs and greed.

Cohn does not do much in the way of offering details on how the system can be changed, except to argue for a single-payer, universal coverage system. Nevertheless, Cohn’s careful examination of the problems that can arise in our employer- and Medicare/Medicaid-based healthcare financing system should be enough to persuade most folks that the so-called “best healthcare system in the world” leaves even the securely middle-class just a few short steps away from financial disaster.

Sick is highly recommended to anyone interested in a basic overview of this country’s healthcare financing system and its pitfalls.

Sphere: Related Content