The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich

Written by Thom Hartmann

Narrated by Sean Pratt

Popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how and why attempts to establish affordable universal healthcare in the United States have been thwarted and what we can do to finally make it a reality.

"For-profit health insurance is the largest con job ever perpetrated on the American people—one that has cost trillions of dollars and millions of lives since the 1940s,” says Thom Hartmann. Taiwan's single-payer system enabled the country to implement a nationwide coronavirus test-and-contact-trace program without shutting down its economy, resulting in just seven deaths, while in the United States more than 350,000 have died.

Hartmann offers a deep dive into the shameful history of American healthcare, showing how greed, racism, and oligarchic corruption led to the current “sickness for profit” system. Modern attempts to create some kind of government healthcare have been hobbled at every turn—including Obamacare, which Hartmann regards as basically a sellout to the health insurance industry.

There is a simple solution: Medicare for all. Hartmann describes the extraordinary benefits it would provide the American people and economy and the steps we need to take to make it a reality. It is time for America to join every industrialized country in the world and make health a right, not a privilege.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Release date: Sep 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781523091669

Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann is the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated talkshow The Thom Hartmann Program and the TV show The Big Picture on the Free Speech TV network. He is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of 24 books, including Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, ADHD and the Edison Gene, and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, which inspired Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The 11th Hour. A former psychotherapist and founder of the Hunter School, a residential and day school for children with ADHD, he lives in Washington, D.C.

Reviews for The Hidden History of American Healthcare

[RobynGermaine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not free from bias. Made a few political statements without providing proof of claim which always leave the bad taste in my mouth no matter which way the person leans politically. I am a nurse, and we do not turn away anyone with or without insurance but you better believe we hammer you if you do have insurance and old people ask me how they’ll pay for their hip replacement when they have paid their entire life an ambulance when they are in trouble because they can’t afford it I have seen a 22 year-old on Medicaid: ambulance for menstrual cramps. America is the most unhealthy society, and it’s not because of a lack of healthcare for most. It’s the food! We could not afford to take care of America’s noncompliance, and unfortunately it’s the compliance that paid the price. Healthcare for all would have worked, Obama set up a plan but if everyone was paying in prices should’ve gone down but instead they started going up people were paying $500 a month on a minimum wage job. Corporate corruption. We cannot be compared to Denmark a small healthy country. I do think a lot of things should be against the law like Medicare and advantage programs so I appreciate bringing that up! Corporate grade should not be allowed in nonprofit and yet here we are!

[john teakell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very insightful, I would highly recommend if you want to learn about the history of American healthcare.

[judy echols · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone should read this book like their life depends on it.

[Elwyn Hudson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a disgrace the corporatist who run our medical system.

[vikx · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Healthcare consumes 24% of GDP? That's wrong. The correct figure is about 18%.