Casino Healthcare

Author Michael Lewis was recently interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes and a quote from that interview was the inspiration and influence for Casino Healthcare.
“If it wasn’t complicated, it wouldn’t be allowed to happen. The complexity disguises what’s happening. If it’s so complicated that you can’t understand it - then you can’t question it.”
What he was referencing was high-speed trading on Wall Street, but the quote could just as easily be applied to healthcare. In fact, it's tailor-made.
This book is not a theoretical policy book for the elite, but one that penetrates the blanket of fog surrounding a major – and growing – household expense. With the research and style of an investigative journalist, the book is easy to understand and accessible by every American.
The U.S. healthcare system was never designed from whole cloth with a strategic vision or intent, but instead it has evolved through the decades with a host of legislative "patches" and temporary fixes. The reason for this is simple. When a casino is generating profits of this magnitude it's critical to keep the casino humming and almost impossible to close it. Rick Scott – now the Governor of Florida – captured the enormous scale of this challenge with this simple two-sentence quote:
“How many businesses do you know that want to cut their revenue in half? That's why the healthcare system won't change the healthcare system.”
Americans have a right to be angry with how the U.S. healthcare system has been hijacked for revenue and profits. One analyst recently categorized it as “legalized extortion on a national scale.” In the same way that Michael Lewis exposed the complexity of high-speed trading on Wall Street, Casino Healthcare will expose the U.S. healthcare system for what it really is – a giant casino of epic proportions where the risks are both personal and nothing less than the health of an entire nation.