Uproot Healthcare

Imagine you are a doctor walking down the street. You come upon a woman lying on the sidewalk. Surrounding this woman are four people all talking at the same time suggesting different ways to help. One is urging a candy bar while another is offering his unique, patented, guaranteed cure for today only, just $19.95 plus tax. A third is trying to give CPR and the fourth is threatening a charge of public drunkenness. Observing this scene reminiscent of the Three Stooges, you ask the group, “What is this woman’s problem?” They all start speaking at once, suggesting diabetes, low self-esteem, a heart attack and vagrancy. No one has examined the woman or even tried to talk to her. You shake your head in amazement, wondering how anyone could possibly try to cure a patient without first knowing the diagnosis – the cause of illness. The woman lying on the sidewalk is Healthcare. The doctors-without-licenses are legislators, insurance executives, expert consultants, and regulators. YOU are the doctor or will be after reading this book. The book is a do-it-yourself treatment guide to help you answer one question: What can you do to heal Healthcare? When presented with this scenario, most would walk away mumbling that the woman is terminal and is going to die anyway. In this way, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Failure is assured only if we presume that success is impossible. When President Kennedy said we would put a man on the moon – when he said it – it was impossible. Nine years later, we did it. You, me, all of us have to start with one agreement and one commitment: healthcare must and can be cured. We – you and me – are the people to do it. Uproot Healthcare shows us how.