The road to a book deal

If you've ever doubted that the Yale Alumni Magazine is a stepping-stone to success, keep reading.

A couple of years ago, we invited Elizabeth Bradley ’96PhD, faculty director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, to write a Forum article on America's health-care spending paradox: "we spend more than any other industrialized country on health, yet we rank among the lowest in many dimensions of health." 

Why? Here's what Bradley and coauthor Lauren Taylor ’08, ’09MPH, concluded after looking at ten years of data: other industrialized countries spend more than twice as much on social services, relative to their health care costs. And that ratio matters greatly: "In countries where health-care spending was high and social-service spending low, the outcomes were significantly worse for infant mortality, life expectancy, and potential years of life lost."

In other words, good health doesn't come only from paying doctors, nurses, and hospitals. It also comes from "housing, employment training, unemployment benefits, old-age assistance, and family support services."

The Yale Alumni Magazine piece caught the eye of Aaron Retica ’88, a Yale alum working at the New York Times. He asked Bradley and Taylor to write a new version of the article for the newpaper's op-ed page: "To Fix Health, Help the Poor."

That article attracted the attention of Public Affairs Publishing: would Bradley and Taylor expand their research and argument into a book?

The American Healthcare Paradox is scheduled to be published in November. It's not yet clear whether anyone will stage a musical version, as they did with our 2009 article "The Gay Ivy."