cover image Bitter Medicine: Greed and Chaos in American Health Care

Bitter Medicine: Greed and Chaos in American Health Care

Jeanne Kassler. Carol Publishing Corporation, $21.95 (239pp) ISBN 978-1-55972-223-0

Kassler ( Gay Men's Health ) here reports on what ails the U.S. health care system. Her notable analysis traces the creation during the 1960s of ``a financially incendiary mix of anonymous funding, high technology and corporate opportunity,'' resulting in the high costs of hospital, outpatient and home medical care and drugs. While wary of the profit motive of private interests, Kassler also points out government inefficiency and waste in single-payer Medicare and Medicaid. She contends that our fragmented managed care system is based on ``potential profit rather than medical need.'' The author's prescriptions include unlinking insurance and employment, restoring the generalist's importance now accorded the highly paid specialist and, most importantly, treating the social and economic ills that foster poor health. 40,000 first printing; author tour. (June)