“Dr. Makary takes a deep dive into the real issues driving up the price of health care and explains how we can all take action to restore medicine to its noble mission.” —Don Berwick MD, senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
“In this thoroughly reported primer Makary authoritatively and conversationally explains the money games of medicine. . . . He found that working Americans feel that the system is stacked against them; it seems that they're right. . . . Consider this book a powerful call to action for more information about health costs and for restoring the 'noble mission' of treating everyone with fairness and dignity.” —Booklist, starred review
“A must-read for every American and business leader.” —Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, FORBES magazine
“I absolutely loved this book. Insightful, sharp, and essential reading-one of the top 5 books I've ever read.” —Jay Newton-Small, TIME Magazine contributor and author of BROAD INFLUENCE
“Marty Makary is a great storyteller, making accessible the business of medicine and the new ideas disrupting it without losing the important details. Everyone should read this book, and then demand a more transparent and fair system.” —Shantanu Agrawal MD, President and CEO, the National Quality Forum
“A valuable and illuminating read, full of intriguing insights into the use of decision-making in medicine and health care and how to make things work for all.” —Cass Sunstein, co-author of NUDGE and Professor, Harvard Law School
“Marty Makary is one of the great thought leaders in medicine and his new book, The Price We Pay, brilliantly lifts the veil on the state of modern medicine and the new ideas that are disrupting it.” —Senator William H. Frist, MD
“Over the course of decades, American health care lost the 'care' component and devolved to a big, wasteful business. In his new book, Marty Makary undertakes an extensive listening tour and astutely deconstructs how this occurred and what we need to do about it.” —Eric Topol MD, Editor-in-Chief, Medscape; author of THE PATIENT WILL SEE YOU NOW
“Dr. Makary artfully sifts through complex data to shine light on a path for those seeking to build a better health care system.” —Aneesh Chopra, former Chief Technology Officer of the United States and President of CareJourney
“Plain talk from a surgeon and professor who has long studied health care issues and finds the American system badly in need of repair. . . . He clearly demonstrates how medical care is secretive and predatory and why skyrocketing costs can be accounted for by the money games of medicine . . . Makary rightly takes the health care business to task, but he also offers a ray of hope that change can and will happen.” —Kirkus
“Every once in a while a book comes along that rocks the foundations of an established order that's seriously in need of being shaken. The modern American hospital is that establishment and Unaccountable is that book.” —Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated, on UNACCOUNTABLE
“[Unaccountable] is an eye-opening look at the culture of medicine. And it's not pretty.” —CNN on UNACCOUNTABLE
“A searing insider's look at what really goes on behind the scenes at major hospitals . . . a galvanizing book full of shocking truths about the current state of health care.” —Kirkus on UNACCOUNTABLE
“This thought-provoking guide from a leader in the field is a must-read for M.D.s, and an eye-opener for the rest of us.” —Publishers Weekly on UNACCOUNTABLE
“Marty Makary offers a searing indictment from the inside.” —Wall Street Journal on UNACCOUNTABLE
2019-01-09
Plain talk from a surgeon and professor who has long studied health care issues and finds the American system badly in need of repair.
Makary (Health Policy/Johns Hopkins Univ.; Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care, 2012, etc.) has plenty of harsh words for the health care industry. He clearly demonstrates how medical care is secretive and predatory and why skyrocketing costs can be accounted for by the money games of medicine, loaded with middlemen, kickbacks, hidden costs, and the bait-and-switch techniques of the so-called wellness industry. Traveling across the country and talking to patients, doctors, business leaders, and insurance brokers, the author concludes that overtesting, overdiagnosing, and overtreatment are all too common. Throughout the book, Makary refuses to hold back and does not hesitate to name names. However, despite all the wrongs that he describes—e.g., health fairs that serve as prospecting events to hospitals that grossly overcharge—the author is optimistic about the future of health care. He cites as positive examples an organization that negotiates with pharmacy benefit managers for better rates for employers; the national Choosing Wisely project, which promotes meaningful conversations between patients and clinicians; and the Johns Hopkins-based Improving Wisely, which enables physicians to see how their practice patterns and outcomes compare to those of others in their field. Makary, who has witnessed a groundswell of physicians working toward a fair and functional health care system, writes that hospitals and doctors can and should return to their historic altruistic mission of serving their communities and that medical schools must focus on compassion and humility. Some states have already passed price transparency legislation, and consumers, he writes, should ask for a price every time they consider a health service.
Makary rightly takes the health care business to task, but he also offers a ray of hope that change can and will happen.
