An American Sickness
How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back
by Elisabeth Rosenthal
Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Rosenthal mixes individual case histories with investigative reporting and clear financial explanations to map how incentives drive U.S. health-care pricing and behavior. Most useful are the concise breakdowns of billing practices, hospital and insurer incentives, and why prices often stay opaque. Main limits are recurring case studies and several deep dives into regulation and economics that slow the narrative; readers seeking brief prescriptions or a purely human-centered story may find the policy detail taxing.
Read this if...
- •state health policy analyst preparing a briefing for legislators about hospital pricing — because the book supplies concrete billing examples and explanations of corporate incentives you can cite.
- •health-care reporter investigating surprise bills or insurance denials — because the reporting offers case studies and a map of where money flows and why.
- •family member managing medical bills for an older relative — because clearer explanations of common billing practices and hidden charges help anticipate disputes and ask sharper questions.
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when chapters shift into dense policy, regulatory history, or detailed economic explanations and similar case studies recur — that’s the point where momentum stalls for many readers.
- •annoying if you prefer light, personal storytelling: the book repeatedly returns to system-level analysis and corporate behavior rather than staying purely anecdotal.
- •not for those looking for hands-on tools or exercises — no workbook-style fixes; it emphasizes diagnosis and explanation over step-by-step solutions.
A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 "This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America."Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The GeneAt a moment of drastic politic...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- state health policy analyst preparing a briefing for legislators about hospital pricing — because the book supplies concrete billing examples and explanations of corporate incentives you can cite.
- health-care reporter investigating surprise bills or insurance denials — because the reporting offers case studies and a map of where money flows and why.
- family member managing medical bills for an older relative — because clearer explanations of common billing practices and hidden charges help anticipate disputes and ask sharper questions.
- you'll likely put it down when chapters shift into dense policy, regulatory history, or detailed economic explanations and similar case studies recur — that’s the point where momentum stalls for many readers.
- annoying if you prefer light, personal storytelling: the book repeatedly returns to system-level analysis and corporate behavior rather than staying purely anecdotal.
- not for those looking for hands-on tools or exercises — no workbook-style fixes; it emphasizes diagnosis and explanation over step-by-step solutions.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Health, and Finance.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
John Legend
“Vacation books: Underground Railroad (@colsonwhitehead), An American Sickness (@RosenthalHealth) & Killers of the Flower Moon (@davidgrann)”
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Soft-spoken, heavily illustrated fable built from short dialogues and watercolor sketches. Each spread pairs a spare line of text with a loose drawing, so the pleasure is visual and aphoristic rather than narrative; readers collect felt-true sentences more than plot. Most useful when you want quick consolations, a prompt for conversation with a child, or a pause during a rough day. Limiting if you want sustained argument, concrete advice, or tightly plotted storytelling: the repetition of gentleness can feel sentimental or thin after a while.”
Similar books
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Charlie Mackesy
The World as It Is
Ben Rhodes
Out of Control
Kevin Kelly
The Bully Pulpit
Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
Deepak Chopra
Billions and Billions
Carl Sagan
Anger
Gary ChapmanFactfulness
Hans RoslingHow recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.