Sick to Debt

How Smarter Markets Lead to Better Care

By: Peter A. Ubel MD

Narrated by: Chris Kipiniak

An informed argument for reworking the broken market-based U.S. healthcare system by making cost and quality more transparent

The United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. While policy makers have argued over who is at fault for this, the system has been quietly moving toward high-deductible insurance plans that require patients to pay large amounts out of pocket before insurance kicks in. The idea behind this shift is that patients will become better consumers of healthcare when forced to pay for their medical expenses.

Laying bare the perils of the current situation, Peter A. Ubel - a physician and behavioral scientist - notes that even when patients have time to shop around, healthcare costs remain largely opaque, difficult to access, and hard to compare. Arguing for a middle path between a market-based and a completely free system, Ubel envisions more transparent, smarter healthcare plans that tie the prices of treatments to the value they provide so that people can afford to receive the care they deserve.

©2019 Peter A. Ubel (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Well thought out book with an excellent reader.

This book is clear ad comprehensive. It explains many of the flaws in our healthcare system and how they injure the American people. Some may disagree with the author's conclusions but the explanations behind his argument are well done.

Some may find the book a bit dry, but the narrator Chris Kipiniak makes the book a great listen. Kipiniak's voice is clear and forthright; his tempo was perfect for this book.