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Reading List January 11, 2020

Beyond Health Insurance

There’s more that’s wrong with our medical system...

2020 is going to be a make or break year for health care. While the majority of candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination back private insurance, the front-runners are pushing for some version of single-payer, signaling that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grasp hold of Medicare for All.

But insurance aside, what are some of the other problems with the current medical system in the U.S.? From the limits of personalized medicine to the racism inherent in medical school curricula, and from the dangerous relationship between academics and Big Pharma to the complications that come with diagnosing someone as “at risk,” today we are diving into our recent archive to give you a range of essays that offer different answers to that question.

Robert A. Aronowitz
In place of the hype over personalized medicine, we need a more sober evaluation of the meaning of health and health care.
Anne Fausto-Sterling

Black people get sicker because of stereotypes taught in medical schools.

Adam Gaffney

Atul Gawande helped popularize the idea that health care spending is high because we use too much medicine. He was wrong: it’s the prices, and who pays them.

Marcia Angell

Relationships between academic institutions and biotechnology companies create conflicts of interest that undermine the goals of academic medicine and harm the public.

Jonathan M. Metzl
State policies shaped by white supremacy increase mortality rates in much the same way as other manmade health risks, such as pollution.
Christopher J. Phillips
It is no longer necessary to feel ill in order to be ill.

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