The reviewer for The New York Times said that the book was "the best description I have yet read of a huge economic problem that we know how to solve—but is so often misunderstood".[1] Kirkus Reviews described the work as "A bombshell of a book: must reading for consumers, their political representatives and all those White House contenders".[2] The reviewer for The Christian Science Monitor said that the author's conclusions in the book were "fascinating, counterintuitive, and potentially revolutionary".[3] A reviewer writing in a social work journal found the book's findings "insightful" and the examples given as "poignant".[4]
The book was reviewed in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association by Norton Hadler, who praised the arguments made, but criticized their quality and the lack of reliance on primary sources.[5] Shannon Doyle in American Journal of Medical Quality similarly praised the timeliness of the book and the detailed arguments, but noted that it the issue is not framed in a political context.[6] In Nursing Ethics, Clair Kaplannotes the extensive use of data in arguments, but was disappointed by the lack of information about nursing.[7]
