Scholars’ Circle – Author Interview – AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neo-liberal Era – July 12, 2026

Scholars’ Circle – Author Interview – AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neo-liberal Era – July 12, 2026

From The Scholars' Circle by The Scholars' Circle

July 12, 2026 · 58 min

About this episode

John E. McDonough discusses the failings of the American healthcare system and the impact of neoliberal policies.

It didn’t always cost this much and deliver this little. Something broke in the early 1980s—and in AMERICA’S WRONG TURN: US Health Care in the Neoliberal Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 11, 2026. You can use Promo-Code of HTWN at checkout to get 30% discount), John E. McDonough explains exactly what it was. The failings of the American healthcare system didn’t happen by accident. They happened because its already sprawling, fragmented structure—Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance, the VA, and more—left it uniquely exposed to a de-regulatory wave that moved fast and largely out of public view. A bedrock faith in free markets was let into the hen house, and the results are stark: the U.S. now spends more and delivers worse outcomes than any other wealthy nation on earth. John McDonough watched neo-liberal economic agenda reshape American political thinking—often without recognizing the seismic nature of the shift in the moment. Its narrow focus on economic and business interests altered government’s role, drove consolidation across industries, deregulated the healthcare sector, and shifted corporate priorities away from consumer…

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Guest: John E. McDonough

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Johns Hopkins University Press

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Organizations: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University Press

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