Praise for The Health Care Consumer’s Manifesto
David Cutler, Harvard University
“Deb Gordon takes a fresh look at health care spending in the U.S. She breaks through the mystery of health care and shows how people can thrive in the system.”
—David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University
Barbara Anthony, Pioneer Institute
“Deb Gordon does away with tired old arguments against price transparency and goes right to the heart of the matter: where else would consumers be expected to pay without first knowing the price? This book shines a bright spotlight on the secrecy and confusion around health care pricing, and shows consumers how they can get to the price information they need to make informed health care choices.”
—Barbara Anthony, Senior Fellow in Healthcare, Pioneer Institute, and former Massachusetts Undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation
Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP, Iora Health
“In The Health Care Consumer’s Manifesto, Deborah Gordon explores in depth the fact that despite spending over a trilling dollars and rising out of pocket on health care, we rarely use our power as consumers to get the best quality and lower price. She explores why this is currently so, why this is changing, and what consumers can do to hasten this change. A must read for anyone who has been frustrated with the experience, quality, or cost of health care in the U.S.; and for providers, payers, and policy makers to prepare for the new world to come.”
—Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP, CEO, Iora Health
Dr. Josh Luke, author and futurist
“Health care is bankrupting the American Dream, and hyper-inflating personal and business health care costs are crippling the middle class and any possibilities for millennials to thrive as entrepreneurs. In this book, Deborah Gordon nails it, identifying the primary individual to this financial epidemic as consumer engagement—each individual must become an Engaged Health Care Consumer, and this book provides a road map to make that a reality for the reader.”
—Dr. Josh Luke, hospital CEO; health care futurist and three-time best-selling author; adjunct faculty, University of Southern California
Bosede B. Afolabi, University of Lagos
“Written in lucid and engaging prose, Deb Gordon’s compelling book offers a perceptive insight into an aspect of the U.S. health care system that is not often examined—in essence, how much does health care really cost and can we have a choice in determining what we pay for? These are questions that cut across continents, albeit particularly pertinent in the USA, which has one of the most expensive health care systems in the world. Deb’s book is a must read for everyone with interest in the economics of health care, in short, everyone!”
—Bosede B. Afolabi, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
Jane Clayson Johnson, author and journalist
“Like a trusted friend who knows exactly what she’s talking about, Deb Gordon guides us masterfully through the health care maze…encouraging and empowering consumers to navigate their own unique challenges. There is hope! We need this book more than ever.”
—Jane Clayson Johnson, former ABC and CBS News correspondent and cohost of CBS’s The Early Show; author, Silent Souls Weeping
Annie Brewster, MD, Health Story Collaborative and MGH
“As a patient and a medical provider, I am grateful for this book. It is packed with wisdom and practical advice with the power to improve the health care experience, and ultimately health outcomes, for all. Through personal stories, it captures the essence of what is broken in health care today—a system built on the flawed assumption that the doctor always knows best—and reminds us that we all have the ability and the right to speak and be heard.”
—Annie Brewster, MD, founder and executive director, Health Story Collaborative; assistant professor, Harvard Medical School; associate physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, Harvard Medical School
“At a critical time in the transformation of the American health care system. Deb Gordon provides a terrific libretto for this most complex and incomprehensible opera. She brilliantly empowers American consumers to better access and demand real value and quality for what are truly the most important services and products that they can access for their families and themselves.”
—Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; former president and CEO, Partners Healthcare System; former CEO, Partners in Health
Camilla Cavendish, author
“A sassy, upbeat manifesto for how Americans should get more from health care.”
—Camilla Cavendish, author, Extra Time: Ten Lessons for an Aging World
Nancy B. Fine, journalist and author
“This is an important book that serves as a call to action from every health care consumer, because it addresses the most critical issue with our health care system, cost of care and how empowered patients must begin to take charge of their personal experiences with the system. Full of poignant anecdotal stories, The Health Care Consumer’s Manifesto includes excellent guidelines on how to determine and negotiate the cost of a procedure or treatment; how to understand the parameters of various insurance programs; and most importantly how to assert your voice as an activated e-patient. For every individual who is frustrated with the system and grappling with how to manager their cost of care, this is a must read.”
—Nancy B. Finn, health care journalist, author of e-Patients Live Longer: The Complete Guide to Managing Health Care Using Technology and Digital Communication in Medical Practice
Paul Matsen, Cleveland Clinic
“We are in a consumer-driven economy. Many of us spend more time thinking about our next cup of coffee than we do about our own health care. The Health Care Consumer’s Manifesto takes a close look at health care today and shines a light on how consumers can and should be more active and informed about their well-being.”
—Paul Matsen, chief marketing and communications officer, Cleveland Clinic
Shannon Coulter, Grab Your Wallet Alliance
“Finally, a guide to health care written entirely with the consumer’s priorities in mind. Deborah Dove Gordon has given us a richly informative, ultra-practical guide with a wealth of useful information from how to get price transparency on health care procedures to how we can use our consumer power to change the system as a whole. Empowering, honest, and refreshingly straightforward, this is one of those books that will likely pay for itself hundreds of times over in avoided costs.”
—-Shannon Coulter, president, Grab Your Wallet Alliance
Susan Athey, Stanford University
“For markets to function properly, consumers need access to information about prices and quality as well as meaningful choice. This ‘Manifesto’ doesn’t just document how badly these conditions fail in health care; it explains why our current system won’t deliver better outcomes unless health care consumers become a force for change.”
—Susan Athey, economics of technology professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Lisa Suennen, digital health guru
“Deb Gordon has captured the pain of dealing with health care and how it can be worse than the pain of illness itself for consumers. Until we align the interests of patients, payers, and providers in new models of payment and care delivery, we will continue to see consumers challenged by the illogical and unkind structures of a system built for a different time. New market entrants recognize the importance of consumer experience and trust; traditional health care entities must begin to think of consumers as customers who are paying a third of health care expenditures or more. The book brings readers deep into consumer mindsets, revealing the depth to which consumers are struggling with their evolving role as health care buyers. Anyone trying to understand what it means to be engaged in the American health care system, especially as a consumer, should read this book and think hard about how to rebuild a system that is meant to treat the hearts and minds of consumers, but has lost touch with those organs along the way.”
—Lisa Suennen, venture capital investor, industry advisor, entrepreneur, and leading voice in digital health; author, Venture Valkyrie blog; cohost, Tech Tonics podcast; cofounder, CSweetener; Rock Health Top Digital Evangelist (2018); University of California Berkeley Haas faculty member