An Arm and a Leg’s Summer Reading List

Hey there —

Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer, which of course means — it’s beach reads season!

When I was still an intern with the show, I asked Dan his favorite books about health care so I could study up.

And in true Dan-style, he really came through — not only sending me a couple of titles, but a full list, with notes on each book.

It was an incredible resource from someone who’s read more than his fair share of books about health care’s inner workings — and now, we want to share some of those picks with you.

Dan’s essential list (with some new annotations):

If you’re only going to read one book, Dan says make it this one: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder.

“It’s hard for me to summarize how much Farmer’s example means to me, and the storytelling is superb,” he added.

Upon revisiting this list, Dan added, “It will change the way you see the world and the possibilities of what we can accomplish for each other in the best possible way.”

If you need motivation for fighting insurance and winning, check out Approved: Win Your Insurance Appeal in Five Days by Laurie Todd — AKA, the “Insurance Warrior.”

Dan’s review: “Even if you’re not fighting your insurance company right now, her attitude, wit, insight, and energy are something to take with you everywhere.”

We’ve talked about Laurie’s strategies before on the show, and reading about how she gets insurance to pay up never gets old. (Her first book, Fight Your Health Insurer and Win, is also great).

If you’re looking for a how-to manual and some cheerleading as you navigate health care in America, get a copy of Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win by the late great journalist Marshall Allen.

Dan says, “This is the how-to classic on the topic — at least until we write our own version.”

If you want a doorstop classic like The Power Broker, The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry by Paul Starr is that kind of book. This Pulitzer Prize-winning tome covers the history of health care in America starting in 1760.

Dan’s original note to me about it said: “I didn’t even attempt to read it until I’d been making the show for a while… but it is incredible. Hugely engaging, full of holy-crap insights/facts on nearly every page.”

I can’t think of a better sell than that!

And if you’re itching to really get angry… check out An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal.

This one is pretty much THE primer on the messed-up state of American health care.

“You may have as much rage in your life as you can handle, but if you want fuel or info, this is the one,” Dan notes¹ Some additional An Arm and a Leg lore here: According to Dan, when he sent the first prototype episode of An Arm and a Leg to an editor friend, that person shared it with a health care reporter who replied, “He has to read ‘An American Sickness.’ It’s about everything he’s trying to do.”

Some other favorites from the Arm and a Leg team

From Claire Davenport (writer of this newsletter): Linda Villarosa’s book Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America. It’s a stunning exposé of health inequalities baked into American life, along with a visionary imagining of what fixing our broken systems could look like.

From Emily Pisacreta (An Arm and a Leg’s senior producer and this newsletter’s editor): Owning the Sun: A People’s History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines by journalist Alexander Zaitchik. This book charts the history of the pharmaceutical industry’s obsession with patents and how it led to the obscene drug prices we have today.

From Ellen Weiss (An Arm and a Leg’s editor): Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe. This examination of the family business that fueled the opioid crisis — and built a giant fortune — offers Succession-level drama.

That’s all for now — and there’s more where this came from, so if you enjoy this reading list, let us know, and we’ll share more favorites in future newsletters.

Happy reading!

— Claire

P.S. We’d love to hear your favorite reads about health care! Tell us in the comments or by replying to this email. (Who knows, maybe one day, we could even start a book club.)

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  Some additional An Arm and a Leg lore here: According to Dan, when he sent the first prototype episode of An Arm and a Leg to an editor friend, that person shared it with a health care reporter who replied, “He has to read ‘An American Sickness.’ It’s about everything he’s trying to do.”
  
  

  “She was 100 percent right,” Dan says.
  
  After the show launched, Dan and the author Elisabeth Rosenthal connected — which later turned into a partnership with the health care news outlet where she served as editor-in-chief, KFF Health News.