The Ten Year War

Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage

By: Jonathan Cohn

Narrated by: Andrew Colford, Jonathan Cohn

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

Jonathan Cohn's The Ten Year War is the definitive account of the battle over Obamacare, based on interviews with sources who were in the room, from one of the nation's foremost health-care journalists.

The Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare”, was the most sweeping and consequential piece of legislation of the last half century. It has touched nearly every American in one way or another, for better or worse, and become the defining political fight of our time.

In The Ten Year War, veteran journalist Jonathan Cohn offers the compelling, authoritative history of how the law came to be, why it looks like it does, and what it’s meant for average Americans. Drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews, plus private diaries, emails and memos, The Ten Year War takes listeners to Capitol Hill and to town hall meetings, inside the West Wing and, eventually, into Trump Tower, as the nation's most powerful leaders try to reconcile pragmatism and idealism, self-interest and the public good, and ultimately two very different visions for what the country should look like.

At the heart of the book is the decades-old argument over what’s wrong with American health care and how to fix it. But the battle over health care was always about more than policy. The Ten Year War offers a deeper examination of how our governing institutions, the media and the two parties have evolved, and the dysfunction those changes have left in their wake.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

©2021 Jonathan Cohn (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Health Care Made Exciting

Provides a great overview of how leaders in the US have approached and battled over health care through the decades. Describes the entire arc of health care policy in a way that actually feels like a story - a plot, some suspense, protagonists and, of course, antagonists. (We know who they are)

Captivating history

Recently, I have been working on a school research paper for my English class about universal healthcare. This book has provided an in-depth explanation of America’s long struggle to get better healthcare policies. It’s been a major help with my research and has helped me learn more about the complexity of politics in the US. I also really enjoyed the guy’s voice acting and different voices for historical and current figures. (Really good trump impression). It made things more entertaining