Two New Books Well Worth Reading . . .

The New England Journal of Medicine asked Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein, long-time advocates of single-payer national health insurance, to review two new books that offer radical prescriptions on two issues that are central to meaningful health care reform: the corporate takeover of modern medicine and the perverse incentives that encourage physicians to overtreat the worried well. You need a subscription to read the review, but needless to say, it was quite positive. Here are the titles, available in finer bookstores or from your favorite online seller:

The Corrosion of Medicine: Can the Profession Reclaim Its Moral Legacy? By John Geyman. 344 pp. Monroe, ME, Common Courage Press, 2008. $24.95.

Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America. By Nortin M. Hadler. 353 pp. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2008. $28.

I'll know this blog has made the big time when publishers start sending me review copies in the mail. Ditto to editors looking for reviewers.