Ripped Off!: Overtested, Overtreated and Overcharged, the American Healthcare Mess

"If you have any tendency to worry about the physical conditions in your baby or child-and who doesn't?- this is the encyclopedia to have on your shelf" Dr. Benjamin N Spock

"In Ripped Off! Dr. Gilbert Simon courageously takes on our broken profit-driven, corporate-run health care system in which Americans pay more and get less than people in other countries. In crisp, clear language, he lays out a sensible program to help us achieve a healthier, longer life at less expense to our pocketbooks."
—Edward Klein, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Anyone who’s interacted with the US healthcare system knows how dysfunctional it is. How did we get there and where do we go from here? Dr. Gil Simon brings more than 50 years of medical care and management experience to “Ripped Off” — a comprehensive overview of obstacles we face in healthcare and how they can be overcome. Simon makes complicated topics such as overdiagnosis and hospital prices easy to understand. A must-read for anyone who cares about health system change and wants to avoid getting “ripped off.”
Judith Garber (she/her)
Senior Policy Analyst
Lown Institute

“(This) is a book that every pediatrician will want the families in his practice to possess. Instead of having to give the same explanations day after day to such common entities as birthmarks, turned-in feet, sore throats, colds and fevers, The Parents Pediatric Companion provides scientifically sound explanations in an eminently readable fashion”
Abraham B Bergman MD
Director of Pediatrics, Harborview Medical Center
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington
“Well written! Should be an excellent guide for mother and fathers alike”
Hugo A Keim MD Professor of Orthopedics, Columbia University

“The Parent’s Pediatric Companion is an authoritative treatise of complicated subjects put in readable understandable terms for parents”
Dr Judson G Randolph, Chief of Surgery
Children’s Hospital Washington DC

Your share of your health insurance premium and the amount you are paying for your yearly deductible, co-pays, and prescriptions are soaring. Don’t forget that your employer’s share of your premium is coming out of your salary. And unfortunately, you are not alone. What can you do to avoid unnecessary costs and encourage American healthcare reform?

Ripped Off! is your guide to better understanding the problems of the American healthcare system—and what you can do for yourself and how to help enact change. Gilbert Simon, MD, has been a primary care physician for over 50 years. He has seen how the corporate takeover of medicine created a costly, bloated, complex, profit-driven bureaucracy. He explains that the current system is out-dated, unsustainable and that we have come to the time for major reform. Ripped Off! shows you how healthcare spending will only increase until major legislative and administrative changes are made and how, like other industrialized countries, America can provide high-quality and equitable service to all of its citizens. After reading this book, you will:

• Recognize the need for healthcare reform
• Feel confident demanding a better and more affordable healthcare system
• Discover the truths of overspending with American healthcare
• Call for a new system that keeps you healthy while keeping your paychecks higher

Ripped Off! demands the need for a more cost-effective healthcare system. It answers questions like, “How can a universal healthcare system work?” and “How can we find the money to do it?” It is time to make a change and save billions of taxpayer dollars. With this book, you can gain the knowledge and courage to make effective healthcare reform a reality before it’s too late.