Accidentally, on Purpose: The Making of a Personal Injury Underworld in America
by Ken Dornstein
From Kirkus Reviews
"This thoroughgoing, even encyclopedic, history of insurance fraud in America is a first-rate, ripping yarn. With its machines and speed and bustle, the Industrial Revolution saw a horrendous rise in accident rates. Train wrecks, street-car collisions, the dangerous chaos of the city, all spawned an almost endless series of mishaps. As Dornstein (a young, former private investigator specializing in insurance scams) ably demonstrates, it wasn't a far step from genuine accidents to the emergence of increasingly sophisticated and outrageous fakery--the money was just too good. He presents a Damon Ruyonesque cast of colorful rascals, from apple-peel specialists
(dropping fruit peels and slipping profitably) to floppers, tumblers,
and whiplashers..." -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates,
LP. All rights reserved.
The Blues: A History of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield System
by Robert M., Jr Cunningham, Rosemary A. Stevens
From The New England Journal of Medicine, December 3, 1998
"In this era of intense market-driven competition among health plans, with nonprofit organizations becoming less distinguishable from their for-profit counterparts, it is easy to forget the origins of private health insurance in the United States and the early notions of prepayment that accompanied them. The birth of the Blue Cross organization and its strong commitment to community service are recounted in The Blues. ...The book, by a father-and-son team, is a comprehensive and balanced account of the Blue Cross organization,
from its inspired beginnings under Justin Ford Kimball at Baylor's University Hospital in 1929 to its present-day role as a major force in American health care..."
Reviewed by Alan B. Cohen, Sc.D.
Copyright © 1998 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.
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