Just a plug for Paul Starr's The Social Transformation of American Medicine. It's the definitive text on healthcare in America. After that, all the other writing is quaint.
On a separate note, you should have seen the fear on the faces of the retired English couple I saw today when I sent the poor man to the ER. They're here on vacation, he had an MI 15 years ago, ran out of his aspirin a month ago on vacation, now he has had vertigo for a week (stumbling like a drink) and new onset high blood pressure. Never paid a dime for healthcare and I just sent them to the lion's den. I reimbursed them the cost of my office visit, but that will be a drop in the bucket.
On a separate note, you should have seen the fear on the faces of the retired English couple I saw today when I sent the poor man to the ER. They're here on vacation, he had an MI 15 years ago, ran out of his aspirin a month ago on vacation, now he has had vertigo for a week (stumbling like a drink) and new onset high blood pressure. Never paid a dime for healthcare and I just sent them to the lion's den. I reimbursed them the cost of my office visit, but that will be a drop in the bucket.