Critical condition : how health care in America became big business-- and bad medicine / by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barlett, Donald L.

Contributor:

Steele, James B.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical care, Cost of--United States.

Medical care, Cost of.

United States.

Health insurance--United States.

Health insurance.

Medical policy--United States.

Medical policy.

Medical economics--United States.

Medical economics.

Medical care--United States.

Medical care.

Physical Description:

vi, 279 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Doubleday, 2004.

Summary:

Exposing the most controversial, little-known practices of America's most flawed system, "Time magazine's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative team pulls back the curtain on the health care industry to explain exactly how things grew so out of control. Dirty examination and operating rooms in doctor's offices and hospitals . . . Health care executives pulling in millions in bonuses for denying treatment to the sick . . . More than 100 million people with inadequate or no medical coverage . . . This may sound like the predicament of a third-world nation, but this is America's health care reality today. The U.S. spends more on health care than" any other nation, yet our benefits are shrinking and life expectancy is shorter here than in countries that spend significantly less per capita. Meanwhile, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital chains reap tremendous profits, while politicians--beholden to insurers and drug companies--enact legislation for the benefit of the few rather than the many, while the entire system is on the verge of collapse. In CRITICAL CONDITION, award-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele expose the horror of what health care in America has become. They profile patients and doctors trapped by the system and offer startling personal stories that illuminate what's gone wrong. Doctors tell of being second-guessed and undermined by health care insurers; nurses recount chilling tales of hospital meltdowns; patients explain how they've been victimized by a system that is meant to care for them. Drug companies profit by selling pills in the same manner that Madison Avenue sells soap, while Wall Street rakes in billions bybuilding up and then tearing down health care businesses. And politicians pass legislation perpetuating the injustices and out-right fraud the system encourages. By analyzing the industry and offering an insightful prescription for getting it back on the right track, CRITICAL CONDITION is an enormously compelling investigative work that addresses the concerns of every American.

Contents:

1 A Second-Rate System 9

Rampant Overcharging 15

Without A Safety Net 24

A Teacher Learns A Lesson 27

Spending More for Less 32

Watchdog for the Drug Companies 35

Emergency in the Er 45

America's Unknown Killer 51

Favors and Fraud 63

Politics and Profits 69

2 Wall Street Medicine 75

How Profit Became Policy 88

Selling the Hospitals 94

Corporate Culture 99

Buying the Doctors 109

Nurses Who Battle the Bottom Line 113

3 Anatomy of a Systems Failure 123

A Bad Business Model 128

Doctor C's Empire 132

Meltdown 139

Vanishing Histories 145

4 The Labyrinth of Care 155

The New Bureaucrats 158

Overruling the Physicians 161

The Wrong Jobs 170

The Insurers' Secret Codes 172

Long-Distance Diagnosis 182

Online and Offshore 189

5 Madison Avenue Medicine 195

Blame it on Bad Breath 199

The TV Ad Blitz 203

"Ask Your Doctor" 210

Risky Business 215

The Celebrity Pitch 223

Your Next Drugs 227

6 The Remedy 235

Curing the Ills 240

Crisis and Opportunity 247

Epilogue: Medicine in the Media 251.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0385504543

OCLC:

55885435