Why Our Health Matters (English)

Andrew Weil, America's foremost expert on health, finds a clear set of solutions to the health care crisis by digging back to the root of the problem. Weil's first order of business is to shatter the commonly held belief that America offers its citizens the best health care in the world, a grand delusion based on three prevalent myths--that American health care is the best because it is the most expensive, because it is the most technologically advanced, or because its doctors are the best educated. Weil shows that these three myths are intricately intertwined, since America's reliance on medical technology, including costly prescription drugs, is not cost effective, resulting in needless, often counterproductive expenses for patients and a lack of proper training for medical students in low-tech methods such as traditional healing and nutrition. He argues that most solutions being offered are temporary fixes at best, since they do not address the inherent flaw in the system, which is an emphasis on disease intervention, rather than prevention. minimize