Review

Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health

By Jamie Court (Editor) and Francis Smith,
with a forward by Ralph Nader
Common Courage Press.
ISBN 1�56751�168�6
224 Pages. $29.95 Hardcover; $16.95 Paperback

Reviewed by K�llia Ramares
Online Journal Associate Editor

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August 31, 2000�This book is a must-read for anyone who might get sick. Consumer advocate Jamie Court and attorney Francis Smith interviewed more than 1,000 patients across the nation in researching this expose of HMOs. Their conclusions: HMOs profit by denying care and force doctors to choose between their patients' best interests and their own ability to make a living. And because of a giant loophole in federal law (ERISA) that immunizes them from lawsuits, HMOs get away with killing and maiming people.

Making A Killing includes ideas for HMO reform and a Patient's Self-Defense Kit, which shows us how to fight for the care we need. People with HMO horror stories can send them to http://www.makingakilling.org for possible inclusion in a planned second edition.
 

This review was originally published in the May, 2000 issue of The Progressive.

Note: A Patient's Self Defense Kit is available for free download at http://www.makingakilling.org.