Doug McGuff MD - The Primal Prescription: Surviving The Sick Care Sinkhole

Special thanks go out to Mark Sisson. I am honored that you thought of me when you contemplated taking on an expos of the American sick care system. To my co-author Robert Murphy, PhD, thank you for your tireless work in bringing rational principles to the field of economics and for integrating your vast knowledge into this book. To my partners at Blue Ridge Emergency Physicians (made extinct by the Affordable Care Act), I would like to acknowledge your twenty years of friendship and professionalism and assure you that our beloved founder, Dr. Jack Warren, is looking down upon you with a cup of black coffee in hand smiling. To Ed Garbe, Sherry Edwards, and Joe Byers (my team at Ultimate Exercise, Inc.), thank you for your boundless energy and enthusiasm in teaching our clients that prevention really is the best medicine. Finally, to Denise Minger, thank you for your excellent work in editing the manuscript for this book and turning my submissions into something worthy of Marks high standards.

M. Doug McGuff, MD

I would like to thank Mark Sisson for introducing me to my co-author for this important project. (Economic theory is great, but I felt much more confident when Dougs ER experience confirmed my analysis.) I am also very grateful for the tremendous work Denise Minger did on our manuscript, to help us make it more accessible for the lay reader.

Robert Murphy, PhD

OTHER BOOKS BY PRIMAL BLUEPRINT PUBLISHING

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The Primal Blueprint 90-Day Journal: A Personal Experiment (n=1)

The Primal Blueprint Cookbook: Primal, low carb, paleo, grain-free, dairy-free and gluten-free meals

The Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals: Delicous, Primal-approved meals you can make in under 30 minutes

The Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings, and Toppings: Plus rubs, dips, marinades and other easy ways to transform basic natural foods into Primal masterpieces

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In the debate over government health care policies, partisanship and the desire to win the argument often leads both sides to talk past each other. Conservative Republicans proudly proclaim that Americans had enjoyed the best health care system in the world, but now President Obamas radical legislation is interfering with the free markets ability to deliver medical services. Liberal Democrats reject this nave vision, arguing that the very real problems of skyrocketing costs and sporadic coverage that existed in 2009 were precisely why President Obama pushed for his sweeping overhaul of the whole system.

Both sides are partially rightbut mostly wrongin this typical battle along partisan lines. The conservative Republicans are correct when they warn that the Affordable Care Act is making medical care worse, but the liberal Democrats are correct when they say the pre-ACA system was broken. Yet when we study the history of US health care and insurance, we can understand exactly why the system was broken as of 2009. We will see that far from being a revolutionary paradigm shift, the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is instead merely a ramping up of trends that have been in place for decades.

There was no free market in US health care or health insurance circa 2009. That is precisely why so many Americans were legitimately scandalized with the system and hence demanded drastic reforms. Yet it also demonstrates that the Affordable Care Act is only making the problem worse.