For what it's worth, here is a reading list that I think does a pretty good job providing the context needed to understand most of the problems in US health/medicine right now:
Health Behavior Change and Treatment Adherence: Evidence-based Guidelines for Improving Healthcare (Medical adherence)
This list doesn't do a great job of covering certain niche problems like current issues in drug discovery or electronic records, but I think it provides enough context to understand whatever issues aren't covered directly. One of the quirks about medicine is that a lot of the data we have on even the most important issues (e.g. antibiotic resistance) is either 10+ years old or else woefully incomplete, which is extremely unfortunate but on the plus side it makes it actually fairly easy to learn about what would otherwise be way too complicated for anyone not in the industry to understand.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus11.pdf - Health, United States, 2011
http://wps.pearsoneducation.nl/wps/media/objects/13902/14236... - To Err Is Human
- http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192842 - JAMA: Institute of Medicine Medical Error Figures Are Not Exaggerated (Context for To Err Is Human)
- http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192908#RE... - JAMA: Is US Health Really the Best in the World? (More context for To Err Is Human)
http://www.innovationlabs.com/summit/summit3/readings/Schust... - How good is the quality of health care in the United States?
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/F... - Why Not The Best (Commonwealth Fund)
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309091179 - Health Literacy: A Prescription To End Confusion (IOM)
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6121 - IOM Workshop: Antiomicrobrial Resistance - Issues and Options
Books:
Anatomy of an Epidemic (Mental health)
The Emperor's New Drugs (Mental health)
Crazy Like Us (Mental health)
The Truth About Drug Companies (Pharma)
Overdosed America (Pharma)
Health Behavior Change and Treatment Adherence: Evidence-based Guidelines for Improving Healthcare (Medical adherence)
This list doesn't do a great job of covering certain niche problems like current issues in drug discovery or electronic records, but I think it provides enough context to understand whatever issues aren't covered directly. One of the quirks about medicine is that a lot of the data we have on even the most important issues (e.g. antibiotic resistance) is either 10+ years old or else woefully incomplete, which is extremely unfortunate but on the plus side it makes it actually fairly easy to learn about what would otherwise be way too complicated for anyone not in the industry to understand.