Review by Choice Review
Patel and Rushefsky address the politics of US health policy-making characterized by incrementalism and consensus building among diverse and conflicting interests. These well-qualified authors begin with their own biases, including a belief that health care is a "right." Definitions of health policy environment and key actors in the policy arenas are clear, used throughout, and helpful to the reader. This is an excellent integration of key legislation and political events that form the understanding of how the US health care system became what it is today. The historical overview of health care from the 19th century to the 1990s--as influenced and affected by issues of access, cost containment, and federal, state, and local governments--offers a background for understanding why the Clinton efforts have failed to date. Separate chapters on Medicaid, Medicare, services for the disadvantaged, cost containment, and the high costs of medical technologies are well written and easily understood, providing the lead into the final chapters on reforming the system and what health policy may look like in the 21st century, an incremental rather than a revolutionary approach. All levels.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
