The Seventh Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture focuses on how the U.S. health-care industry became big business. It is now by far the most expensive in the world, with prices for drugs, procedures and hospitalizations many times that of those in other developed countries—and generally without better care or results. Its evolution over the last three decades moved it from a caring endeavor to a financially driven system. Elisabeth Rosenthal will trace how commercial forces and interests insinuated themselves, step by step, so no one protested much. But we now live in a system where medical machinery comes with brochures on how to recoup return on investment (ROI), and ambulance companies as well as dialysis units are owned by venture capital firms. Still, while explaining ways to push back, Rosenthal's ultimate message is one of optimism and hope.