You would think that a healthcare system costing $5.3 trillion annually would deliver care that its customers would be ecstatic about. It is truly amazing how a system so expensive can deliver so poorly in both health outcomes and customer satisfaction. Conversely, how can patients be forced to pay so much for such substandard care?

Most of us do not realize how the consumer protections and free-market rights of patients and physicians have been gradually and now totally taken away through legislation enacted in the last six decades. Some of this legislation was ideology-based, and others were done at the bidding of the middlemen (insurance companies and hospital corporations) and sellers (drug companies and medical device makers) who hold incredible sway on our politicians (in both parties) through political contributions and other influence mechanisms.

As a result, patients have no free-market rights, the most basic of which would be multiple sellers of healthcare services competing for their business based on their reputation for quality and value. They have no meaningful consumer protections that would compel middlemen and sellers in the healthcare market to act responsibly, for fear of being driven out of business if found engaging in fraud or deceptive practices.

Insurance companies, hospital corporations, and drug companies in our healthcare system enjoy full free-market rights. They not only protect them in the court of law, but also through political lobbying. In contrast, most patients are not even aware how they have been shortchanged with a complete loss of their free-market rights and consumer protections, which makes them sitting ducks to be taken advantage of by the healthcare corporations.

The patients and physicians have been completely shackled to legacy insurance companies and hospital corporations. There is a complete market failure in which patients (buyers) and providers (sellers) have been made inaccessible to each other by the insurance companies and hospital administrators. Physicians are unable to directly reach and provide care to patients who would benefit from their skills and services, and vice versa. The common perception that our healthcare system currently serves only the interests of the insurance companies, hospital corporations, and drug companies is indeed grounded in reality.

Americans should be aware that they are being forced to pay through the nose for grossly substandard care, which is close to quackery. In the last decade, a healthcare system built over a couple of centuries as the best in the world has degenerated into a shadow of its former glory. It is not that there are no good physicians remaining, but it has become impossible for them to practice medicine properly in the highly dysfunctional, chaotic, and frankly hostile environment that has developed over the last decade. Consequently, they have been retiring in hordes.

In this book, I call a spade a spade, do not sugarcoat anything, and point out everyone at fault, sparing no one. Still, it might not adequately portray reality because the extreme dysfunction in our healthcare system is beyond words and almost impossible for anyone to imagine.

The only realistic way to reform our healthcare system is by allowing the development of a free-market alternative without unnecessary government intervention, which will help unshackle patients and physicians from our legacy healthcare providers and restore patients' free-market rights. I outline the current challenges to its development and practical, actionable, and admittedly bold steps to make it happen. I also provide the rationale behind each suggestion. These are not based on ideology, but real-world experience in healthcare and sound economic principles.