Grow and Hide

This blockbuster book excavates a buried truth: Health care in America is organized, constructed, and paid for by the government. Why don't Americans know that? Because, as Colleen Grogan meticulously shows, the government hides its pervasive hand. Grow and Hide is an extraordinary detective story tracing the many hidden forms of public action—and the unjust ways they tilt the system. Beautifully written, deeply researched, endlessly fascinating, and extremely important. * James A. Morone, Brown University, and author of Hellfire Nation *
In this magisterial account, health policy expert Colleen Grogan puts forth the most ambitious, wide-ranging analysis of the American health care system in a generation. She shows how the myth of a predominant private sector emerged, how it hides the government's vast role, and how it is fanned for great profit by a multitude of health sector actors, most recently private equity. Along the way, she illuminates important facets of health policy that the usual accounts miss but that are patterned by the same rhetorical myth. Grogan offers an insightful, original account of the American health care tragedy: spending so much, getting so little in return. * Andrea Louise Campbell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Trapped in America's Safety Net *
Grow and Hide uncovers the hidden paradox at the heart of America's health crisis: public and private leaders celebrate the 'private' medical sector even as government at all levels props it up, makes the public health investments it shortchanges, and finances the lion's share of its exorbitant costs. To fix this giant mess, we must see it—and Colleen Grogan brilliantly brings its full scope out of hiding. * Jacob S. Hacker, Yale University, and author of The Great Risk Shift *
Grow and Hide is deeply informed and indispensable reading. Colleen Grogan masterfully debunks fundamental and self-undermining myths about the historical development, contemporary structure, financing, and politics of US health care and public health. Her poignant and creative recasting of health policy offers novel insights that are critical for envisioning a more healthy and equitable future—especially for those who are most vulnerable. * Jamila Michener, Cornell University, and author of Fragmented Democracy *
In this compelling book, Grogan synthesizes and augments several generations of scholarship on the history of organizing and financing healthcare in the United States since the early twentieth century. She demonstrates that the growing size and effectiveness of the health sector has been, primarily, a result of public policy and funding that has been obscured by mythology that exaggerates the role of individuals and organizations in the private and non-profit sectors. Grow and Hide is a significant contribution to the literature on the history of what Grogan describes, appropriately, as the American health care state. * Daniel M. Fox, President Emeritus, Milbank Memorial Fund *
Grow and Hide is that extreme rarity - a book that makes both a stellar addition to scholarship and an admirable contribution to democratic theory and practice. Enriched by Grogan's work, as penetrating as it is provocative, scholars of public health and public policy - and indeed open-minded citizens wherever they may be found - will be better equipped to interpret the import of the policy history it reveals and to ponder the range of political responses those revelations may call to mind. * Lawrence D. Brown, Books & Media *