cover image It's Enough to Make You Sick: The Failure of American Health Care and a Prescription for the Cure

It's Enough to Make You Sick: The Failure of American Health Care and a Prescription for the Cure

Jeffrey M. Lobosky, MD. Rowman & Littlefield, $27 (284p) ISBN 978-1-4422-1462-0

Neurosurgeon Lobosky's history/manifesto aims to explain and expose healthcare in America by tracing insurance from 2100 B.C.E to contemporary Washington health politics, but ultimately misses his target. The narrative and arguments are uneven and suffused with vitriol; earlier chapters seem meticulously researched, but as he races into topics like gender issues in medicine, citations wane, and he readily admits to his desire to provoke readers. To what end is anyone's guess. Though Lobosky does present some cogent arguments%E2%80%94as evidenced by his pragmatic backing of "the highest level of effective care under the practical restraints of what our society can afford%E2%80%94" his elitist and sardonic tone will alienate most readers: "To accomplish the goals of reducing heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, and cancer, we%E2%80%A6have to convince our population to%E2%80%A6drag their lazy, overweight carcasses off the couch." If Lobosky could abstain from incessant inflammatory editorializing (or if readers can overlook it), the book might be worthwhile, but Lobosky's work suffers from the same indictment he levels at Michael Moore%E2%80%94a severe "lack of balance." Though the author prescribes the magic elixir that is "Loboskycare," which does everything from changing political term limits to eliminating healthcare fraud, the reader is left, however, asking Lobosky to "answer the freaking question:" How? (May)