“Bitter Pill”

Last year, journalist Steven Brill was putting the finishing touches on his big book on America’s healthcare system. He was intimately familiar with its massive problems, which can be boiled down to this: it is by far the most expensive health care system in the world, and yet Americans’ health isn’t improving. Brill was just about finished when he found himself strapped to a gurney, about to have open heart surgery. He joins Madeleine to discuss what he learned from that experience and how it dovetailed with his reporting, which is chronicled in his new book.