As Health Care Battle Rages, New Book Predicts Your Upcoming Surgery May Come With an Ocean View

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec 16, 2009 -
As Americans turn in droves to the internet for the latest details of the health care debate, many are doing a double take at The-Salvare.com. Could it be that Congress nationalized the U.S. Health Care System while we were sleeping? Is our only hope of private care now provided aboard a hospital ship operating off the Cape May, NJ, coast? The-Salvare.com would have you think it's all true. In reality, the site is but a clever launch pad for author Daniel Putkowski's latest book, Universal Coverage (Hawser Press, Dec 15), which touts the benefits of Salvare — an unlicensed, floating medical center cruising international waters. The author explains, "In early 2008, I began outlining a story of a young boy with a heart condition who becomes caught up in a nationalized health care system similar to that in Canada and the UK — only my character is American and the nationalized system is in the United States. What would that look like, I wondered. Would people still seek private care, even if it was illegal? Little did I know then of the impending health care showdown that's playing out in Washington right now."

Indeed, Putkowski's timing appears impeccable as Congress is putting the finishing touches on a bill that could inch us closer to the author's uncomfortable vision of a corrupt American single-payer system. In the world Putkowski creates, private health-care insurance is a distant memory and those who partake in black market, cash-only medical services may find themselves recovering in prison. Far-fetched? Not if some recent headlines are to be believed. While Putkowski's book is being compared to George Orwell's 1984, many see it as less science fiction and more crystal ball. Georgia orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Scott A. Barbour, found Putkowski's book a powerful read, "Articulating the horrors of socialized medicine is a daunting task, but now we have a translation [with Putkowski's novel]." Barbour, a board member of Docs 4 Patient Care, adds, "It's a must read for all Americans who are concerned about their children's future."

Though fiction, Putkowski's story also resonated with Grace-Marie Turner, President of Galen Institute, an Alexandria, VA-based research organization focused on free-market health care reform and tax policy. "[This book] foreshadows the loss of freedom and economic decline that ensue from the sort of government intervention we see taking hold in Washington today. It is the 1984 novel of our era."

Only time will tell if Putkowski's cautionary tale becomes tomorrow's reality. In many ways, the gears are already in motion to bring medical tourism close to home for Americans unhappy with their current options. Private cruise ship hospitals like those mentioned in Putkowski's book may not be on the horizon, but India's Narayana Hrudayalaya Group -- led by world famous cardiac surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty -- has initiated plans to develop a $1 billion, 2,000-bed private medical facility in the Cayman Islands. With its close proximity to the U.S., the facility expects to attract thousands of visitors. Last month, Dr. Shetty told the Wall Street Journal the hospital in the Cayman Islands will primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care.

The future of health care in the United States remains uncertain. While some are hopeful that reform will improve quality and affordability, some like James Peron, President of Laissez Faire Books, believes the dark picture Putkowski has painted is more accurate. "Putkowski doesn’t portray a world as it ought to be, but how it may well be. Today’s novel could be tomorrow’s journalism and that is terrifying to consider." Universal Coverage is available in stores and online wherever books are sold, including http://www.amazon.com. For more information, visit http://www.danielputkowski.com and http://www.the-salvare.com.

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