One of the best entries in the health care reform genre.
A highly insightful examination of how to fix America’s woefully inadequate health care system.
Einav and Finkelstein, professors of economics at Stanford and MIT, respectively, manage the impressive feat of appearing neither liberal nor conservative, portraying the American health care system as not merely deplorable, but grotesque. Its patches, exceptions, complexities, and cutouts illustrate our “plug-the-leaks, squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease approach of the past half century.” The authors make a compelling case for going back to the drawing board to do it right. The idea of universal health care is rooted in an unwritten social contract: to provide essential medical care regardless of resources. Most liberals and conservatives accept this concept, at least in theory. Current reforms miss the point by emphasizing the uninsured, ignoring the fact that 90% of insured Americans have problems. Even the coverage we do have is a mess. The authors argue for a fixed government health care budget to provide free universal coverage for basic services and the option to buy additional, supplemental coverage. Conservatives may be discomfited to learn that almost every high-income nation with free, “socialized” medicine operates under a fixed health care budget. America doesn’t and vastly outspends them all. Ironically, much of American health care is already socialized—i.e., paid for by the government with salaried doctors at the VA hospitals and community health centers. Taken as a whole, our taxes already pay for universal basic coverage, but basic coverage must be just that: basic. Some extras—private rooms, choice of doctors, good food, short wait times for routine care—don’t qualify. The authors’ vivid examples vary from tolerable (Australia, Singapore) to unpleasant (China). Their plan would create a two-tier system benefiting those with supplementary coverage, but we already have that. The advantage is that it would fulfill the social contract we all accept. Today’s basic coverage for the poor—i.e., Medicaid—is not only a failure; it’s often undeniably cruel.
One of the best entries in the health care reform genre.Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9780593421239
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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