Reid checked himself into the famous Arya Vaidya Chikitsalayam, an institution that he describes as the Mayo Clinic of traditional Indian medicine, and was surprised when a haughty astrologer and her retinue used a collection of shells, rocks and statuettes of Hindu gods to divine whether the stars were aligned to favor his treatment. These two circumstances provided Reid with the inspiration for his book and set him off on 'a quest for two cures.' He traveled around the world, visiting doctors in places as diverse as Taiwan, France and India to see how their health-care systems would approach treating his shoulder pain, and in the process he searched for insights to cure the U.S. During his long career as a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, he and his family received high-quality, routine care from doctors in places such as Tokyo and London. Many decades ago, Reid suffered an accident while in the Navy that left him with a bum shoulder, a condition that, while not acutely painful, became increasingly bothersome as he aged. Based on his own experience and research, 'The Healing of America' is both readable and informative. Reid has done a service to his nation by showing in his latest book just how uninformed this conventional wisdom is. 'They do it by rationing care, by long waiting lines, and by limiting, or I should say eliminating, a patient's choice.' T.R. 'These countries that say they provide universal coverage - they pay a price for it, you know,' Giuliani told his audience. From The Washington Post's Book World/ Reviewed by Phillip Longman During last year's Republican presidential primary season, candidate Rudy Giuliani succinctly captured what millions of Americans think about health care abroad.

Reid the healing of america