This book describes advances in medical care, inflation in its costs, and the often antagonistic roles of the government and the private sector in providing health care services. A case is made for more individual responsibility for health together with more government regulations of those directly and indirectly affecting health and treatments, including not just the drug industry but health care providers, as well as food, automobile, and other industries that have been more concerned about profits than the safety and health of the public. The author joins with those who consider health care to be a national priority and recommend a government-run universal health system paid for by taxes. Such health care systems exist in other developed countries less wealthy than the United States and they often have resulted in better health and higher longevities for their citizens.