Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health Care

Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Health CareWhy is the American health care system so dysfunctional and costly? Overcharged lays bare the root causes of Americas health care ills, revealing a system that performs as exactly as designed: expensively, out of control, with no accountability. Overcharged details solid solutions in particular, how subjecting our health care system to the same competitive forces that apply to the rest of the economy will result in lower costs and improved access for

Why is the American health care system so dysfunctional and costly? Overcharged lays bare the root causes of America’s health care ills, revealing a system that performs as exactly as designed: expensively, out of control, with no accountability.

Overcharged details solid solutions — in particular, how subjecting our health care system to the same competitive forces that apply to the rest of the economy will result in lower costs and improved access for all. Key to this: Consumers must control the money and exert pressure from below rather than routing massive funds through insurers, employers, public payers (like Medicare and Medicaid) and politicians.

 “Overcharged is just what the doctor ordered. We will be better off if it is widely read and discussed.”
– Jeffrey S. Flier, M.D., former dean, Harvard Medical School

“Silver and Hyman frighten us with the facts, and point to ways the biggest player in the health care game — the government — can stop making matters worse.”
– George F. Will, Pulitzer Prize‐​winning columnist and author