First let’s be clear: this is about the US healthcare system, and thus will be mostly relevant for US Americans. Still, many outside of the US may have an interest, and in fact the book does talk about the healthcare systems of many other countries (hence the subtitle mentioning “a global quest”), outlining how each works, and what the journey was that got them there.

The author, a veteran journalist with a 60+ year-long career, notes that affordable healthcare is a social problem so complex, that only 33 out of 32 of the world’s richest countries have managed to do it. That’s a little glib and can be quibbled in the minutiae, but when it comes down to it, insulin in the US still costs 50x what it does in most places, and in pretty much all aspects of healthcare, US Americans are being fleeced at every turn.

He examines why this happens, and what currently prevents the US from lowering healthcare costs. He finds the culprits to be the profitmongers along the way (insurance companies in cahoots with drug companies in cahoots with hospitals, etc), as well as a pervasive belief that since healthcare is so expensive, how could the richest country on Earth possibly pay for it? Many Americans will believe that the answer is that other countries have inferior care, but this tends to stem from a mistaken belief that medical treatment actually costs what Americans are billed for it. The fact is: the same quality of care can be provided for a lot less, as many countries demonstrate.

The book doesn’t argue for any one particular solution; it doesn’t have to be entirely state-funded like the UK, or consumer-funded but seriously low price caps like in Japan; there are many other models to choose from. The argument that is made is that if so many other countries can have medical bankruptcy being a thing unheard-of instead of the leading cause of bankruptcy, then so can the US, and here’s a wide menu of methods to choose from.

Bottom line: if you’re a US American and you’d like to think you could get the same quality of care without lining numerous corporate pockets along the way with your hard-earned cash, then this book will open your eyes to what is possible.

Click here to check out The Healing Of America, and learn how you could get the same, for less!

Firstly, what this is not: a “think yourself well” book. It’s not about just deciding to be well.

Rather, it’s about ensuring the foundations of wellness, from which the rest of good health can spring, and notably, an absence of chronic illness. In essence: enjoying chronic good health.

The prescription here is functional medicine, which stands on the shoulders of lifestyle medicine. This latter is thus briefly covered and the basics presented, but most of the book is about identifying the root causes of disease and eliminating them one by one, by taking into account the functions of the body’s processes, both in terms of pathogenesis (and thus, seeking to undermine that) and in terms of correct functioning (i.e., good health).

While the main focus of the book is on health rather than disease, he does cover a number of very common chronic illnesses, and how even in those cases where they cannot yet be outright cured, there’s a lot more that can be done for them than “take two of these and call your insurance company in the morning”, when the goal is less about management of symptoms (though that is also covered) and more about undercutting causes, and ensuring that even if one thing goes wrong, it doesn’t bring the entire rest of the system down with it (something that often happens without functional medicine).

The style is clear, simple, and written for the layperson without unduly dumbing things down.

Bottom line: if you would like glowingly good health regardless of any potential setbacks, this book can help your body do what it needs to for you.

Click here to check out Just Be Well, and just be well!