Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father--and How We Can Fix It Hardcover – January 8, 2013

Dysfunctional and undisciplined. That is Goldhill’s assessment of the current U.S. health-care system. President and CEO of the Game Show Network, Goldhill believes the trouble stems from “a culture lacking customer accountability: high prices, excess, errors, underinvestment in information technology, lack of follow-up.” Spurred by the death of his father from a hospital-acquired infection, Goldhill has devoted considerable time and thought to repairing health care. His book sprouted from a 2009 article he penned for the Atlantic. Encounters with the health-care system usually involve gargantuan intermediaries—Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies, entities Goldhill cites for inefficiency. They also generate increased demand for services. His alternative to the status quo combines national health insurance (for everyone but not everything) with a market-based system that gets rid of intermediaries and allows individuals to deal directly with providers. Individual health accounts, catastrophic insurance with a high deductible, and health loans are key components. The health-care system is gashed. Goldhill thinks it’s time to rip off the colossal Band-Aid and apply a different kind of balm. --Tony Miksanek

"David Goldhill has written a devastating and utterly original analysis of what has gone wrong with the American health care system. Read it, and take a deep breath. He will convince you that our ‘solutions’ are not solving our problems. They are making our problems worse."
—Malcolm Gladwell

"David Goldhill is a genius observer of a broken system in need of fresh ideas. His testimony and common-sense ideas are devastatingly important in light of out-of-control medical prices. A must-read for doctors, policy-makers and patients alike. Catastrophic Care is a defining book of our era, and a roadmap for fixing our country's leading debt driver. You will never see medical care the same way."
 —Marty Makary, MD, best-selling author of Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Healthcare
 
"For those who are troubled by both the failures of our healthcare system and the misdirected diagnoses and prescriptions offered by pundits, policy experts, and politicians from across the political spectrum, David Goldhill offers a brilliant and much needed antidote. By calling out with remarkable clarity the numerous, but now almost invisible incentives and regulations that drive the dysfunction of our current system, Catastrophic Care provides an illuminating framework for understanding the crisis, and then a path to the kinds of reforms that will surely be necessary."
 —Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School

"[A] fascinating and infuriating expose of the American health care system . . . Goldhill persuasively argues that a consumer-driven system – which will require greater vigilance and commitment on the part of citizens in actively managing their health – is the first step toward sustainability and lower individual and government costs. . . . Goldhill's reasoned, logical alternative to the current system goes beyond political finger-pointing, and while his take is sobering, it’s one that offers sound solutions." 
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[Catastrophic Care] is powerful—edge-of-the-seat riveting—because it is not, in any sense, a policy book. Rather, this is a story about saving ourselves . . . It steps outside of the established political debate and lexicon—one of the rare books addressing a major national policy issue that is able to do so in language not already debased by the problem itself . . . Alas, healthcare civilians can't actually read most books about healthcare (and if you can, then you are part of the problem). But you can read this one."
—Michael Wolff, The Guardian 
 
"Highly readable presentation of one businessman’s solution, likely to provoke discussion if not agreement." 
—Kirkus Reviews 
 
“Rarely has the irrationality of the [healthcare] system been so convincingly demonstrated, including the opaque and highly inflated prices of medical care.”
—Arnold Relman, The New York Review of Books

"Thought provoking . . . A for-profit business executive who actually states that better than adequate health care should be available to all people in the country . . . As an industry outsider—neither a clinician, policymaker, or someone who works for the healthcare industry—Mr. Goldhill observes and explains the issues in an understandable manner for the layperson."
—New York Journal of Books

"The best popular health care book . . . a crystal clear account of what has gone wrong and how to fix it."
—Tyler Cowen, Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics, George Mason University

"[A] comprehensive, thought-provoking, empirical, and well-written book."
—Matthew Continetti, The Weekly Standard

"Provacative."
—Wayne Holliday, Decatur Daily

“Goldhill’s perspective is invaluable to the health-care discussion, elevating his personal tragedy into an impressive body of research.  Written with both pain and passion, this book provides an informative and relatable treatise.”
—Elizabeth J. Eastwood, Library Journal

"Innovative . . . Goldhill presents a convincing argument in many ways, and this book already has challenged policymakers to examine his proposals.” 
—William P. Moran, Charleston (SC)Post and Courier

“David Goldhill isn’t your typical policy expert. He is the chief executive officer of GSN. That’s right, the Game Show Network. What does he know about health care? Quite a bit, it turns out.”
—Chelsea Conaboy, Boston Globe, White Coat Notes