Dissecting the Politics and Money Behind Health Care

In The Cost of Cutting: A Surgeon Reveals the Truth Behind a Multibillion-Dollar Industry, private practice surgeon Paul Ruggieri delves into the shadowy ways that money influences healthcare. In one chapter, he writes of a primary care physician who threatens to cut off surgery referrals if Ruggieri doesn’t perform the operation in the referring physician’s hospital. In another, he writes of hospitals sterilizing single-use disposable surgical equipment to save money while passing charges for new equipment onto patients. Throughout the book, Ruggieri argues for more transparency in the healthcare business, and encourages patients to be more involved in the management of their health, both clinically and financially. (Plus, read an excerpt from The Cost of Cutting.)