Whether a patient, health consumer, physician, nurse, health executive, or elected official, somewhere deep in our brains is this simple truth: the American health system isn’t working, and it will only get worse if we don’t do something about it. Despite spending more money per capita on health care than any other country in the world, the United States struggles to match other nations in life expectancy, health outcomes, and general well‑being. Meanwhile, the system spends more on unnecessary, ineffective, and wasteful services than what we collectively invest in K–12 education in America. All the while, our health status is declining. This is a book about the interconnectedness between the health of people and the health of a nation. It’s about the opportunity and responsibility each of us has to reimagine and reengineer a system that focuses on keeping all citizens healthy and caring for them when they are not. We can and must take back the right we all have to be in better control of things that impact our health and well‑being. This book awakens readers to the possibilities that exist today that are right in front of us if only we choose to see them. This book is for those who want to change American health care from what it is to what they believe it should be.
