In this deeply researched yet controversial book, Stephen C. Schimpff, MD explains why our healthcare delivery system serves us so poorly and costs so much, and why government and insurer policy has not only failed to improve care delivery but has actually made it worse. Primary care physicians have been forced into a non-sustainable business model that drives them to schedule an unreasonable number of patient visits per day. Too many visits means not enough time per patient, forcing those physicians to instead refer a patient to a specialist, order a test, or write a prescription when more time would have resulted in better care at much less cost.

Kindle Unlimited Eligible!

Inspiring and revealing

Dr. Connie Mariano served 9 years at the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. She participated in world headline-making news events and traveled all over the world.

She cared for visiting dignitaries and was charged with caring for all the members of the First Family. From flirting with King Juan Carlos of Spain to spending the night on the Queen of England's yacht, Dr. Mariano glimpsed a glittering and powerful celebrity that few ever see.

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Start sooner rather than later

You can live a long and healthy life. There is no magic pill or Fountain of Youth, but you can achieve it with simple lifestyle modifications:

1. Eating the right foods
2. Getting the right exercise
3. Reducing and managing stress
4. Improving the quality of sleep
5. Eliminating tobacco
6. Remaining intellectually engaged
7. Staying involved socially

The advice in Longevity Decoded works—because it puts you in charge of shaping your future. Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life— Longevity Decoded is your roadmap.

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The Deep Dive into patient privacy

There are serious dangers lurking behind the government's $30 billion electronic health record (EHR) experiment. This omnipresent technology turns doctors into data clerks and shifts attention from patients to paperwork--while health plans, government agencies, and the health data industry profit. Patients who think the HIPAA ''privacy'' rule protects the confidentiality of their medical information will be shocked to discover it makes their medical records an open book.

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Americans Must Read!

From award-winning ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen, a primer For anyone who wants to fight the predatory health care system--and win.

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. At least, this is what the health care power players want you to think.

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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Well worth it

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.

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. Dr. Makary shows how so much of health care spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health and what you can do about it. Dr. Makary challenges the medical establishment to remember medicine's noble heritage of caring for people when they are vulnerable.

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Medical Privacy and You

This highly original book is an ethnographic noir of how Big Data profits from patient private health information. The book follows personal health data as it is collected from inside healthcare and beyond to create patient consumer profiles that are sold to marketers.

Primarily told through a first-person noir narrative, Ebeling as a sociologist-hard-boiled-detective, investigates Big Data and the trade in private health information by examining the information networks that patient data traverses. The noir narrative reveals the processes that the data broker industry uses to create data commodities—data phantoms or the marketing profiles of patients that are bought by advertisers to directly market to consumers.

Healthcare and Big Data considers the implications these “data phantoms” have for patient privacy as well as the very real harm that they can cause.

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Understanding where we've been

Dr. Fisher provides the reader an in-depth understanding of how Americans got into this controversial, overly expensive, exceedingly complex and bureaucratic healthcare system and ends with a comprehensive solution delivering the promise of personalized health care for all at far less cost.

Written with a historical perspective so that the reader will gain a clear understanding of the misconceptions and accidents of history that have led to our present dysfunctional and contentious system of healthcare.

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Honorable mention

A visionary investigation that will change the way we think about health care: how and why it is failing, why expanding coverage will actually make things worse, and how our health care can be transformed into a transparent, affordable, successful system.

In 2007, David Goldhill’s father died from infections acquired in a hospital, one of more than two hundred thousand avoidable deaths per year caused by medical error. The bill was enormous—and Medicare paid it. These circumstances left Goldhill angry and determined to understand how world-class technology and personnel could coexist with such carelessness—and how a business that failed so miserably could be paid in full. Catastrophic Care is the eye-opening result.

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Honorable mention

Over the years that Victoria Sweet has been a physician, “healthcare” has replaced medicine, “providers” look at their laptops more than at their patients, and costs keep soaring, all in the ruthless pursuit of efficiency. Yet the remedy that economists and policy makers continue to miss is also miraculously simple. Good medicine takes more than amazing technology; it takes time—time to respond to bodies as well as data, time to arrive at the right diagnosis and the right treatment.

Honorable mention

Most CEOs, HR leaders, and others have been led to believe that controlling health benefits costs isn't possible. The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream shows how this just isn't true. It's an inside look into how public and private employers and unions across the U.S. are reducing their spending by 20% or more, while improving care quality and access, by taking control of the purchasing process, aligning economic incentives, and applying simple, practical, and proven approaches.

The book opens the door to learning from these top performing benefits purchasers. It's built on the the real-life examples and successes of top performers across sectors, a field guide for how CEO's and HR leaders can improve their bottom line while improving their employees' own bottom line and health.

Honorable mention

If you want to get to the root cause of an issue, just ask, “Why?” That’s what I do every time I see employees strike, and usually the answer – no matter the industry – is, at least in part, “health care.” From the auto industry to the education systems to the healthcare industry itself, health care spending is the underlying issue.

The truth is, the public sector could do more to make their health plans more affordable for all people. It could also improve outcomes in their communities if local dollars weren’t being swallowed up by, in many cases frivolous, projects like the $1 billion expansion of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Understanding how we can free up health care dollars to accomplish these goals is what this book sets out to do. It walks readers through how much money is wasted on our current catastrophic health care system at the national, state, and employer levels.

It further explains how we allowed that system to create subsequent public health crises.

Finally, it points the way to end the current system by designing low-cost, high-quality, parent-approved Health plans.

Books mentioned in the Expat Health Guide

Worthwhile Reading!

A great starting point!

Inspiring and revealing

Start sooner rather than later

The Deep Dive into patient privacy

Americans Must Read!

Well worth it

Medical Privacy and You

Understanding where we've been

Honorable mention

Honorable mention

Honorable mention

Honorable mention