A searing expose of incompetence, fraud, and greed in the American healthcare system by the "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Government Racket".

Book Review
Although he repeats much about the perfidy of the present practice of medicine as a business that has lately been aired, alarm-sounder Gross adds important new material. He shows how HMOs encourage--indeed pay--doctors to not give care. For-profit HMOs are especially dangerous, he says, because the bottom line for their administrations is stockholders' dividends and CEOs' high incomes rather than caring for patients. "In truth," Gross writes, "the HMO is not a medical plan at all, but strictly an insurance gimmick." Minnesota has abolished this type of business, and other states should do so as soon as possible, he says. Gross also deals at length with home care frauds and points out questionable elements in medical education and training, especially the current misplaced emphasis on primary physicians when more specialists are needed. On the positive side, he does, however, grant that unnecessary coronary bypass operations have decreased. Finally, he suggests steps to improve medical education, patient care, and the accessibility of medical care.
William Beatty