Health care is no longer just a public issue; for millions of Americans it is now a crisis on their own doorstep. The costs of medical care today are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy; yet--even though we spend more money on it than any other country--our national health is far from the best in the world. Many Americans would be surprised to learn that the World Health Organization recently rated America thirty-seventh in health outcomes—on par with Serbia.

Tackling the major myths of American medicine, Weil shows how medical schools fail to give future doctors the education they need to care for patients, how insurance companies have destroyed our opportunity to receive excellent care, and how pharmaceutical companies have come to rule our lives. The solution involves nothing less than the creation of a completely new culture of health and medicine in this country--and one that we can each start building today.