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Health is discussed as both a generalized and a very relative concept, defined to include not only freedom from physical disease and pain, but also social well-being. The im portance of environmental factors is stressed. Measuring health status in the past has been largely dependent on the negative aspects of health—death rate and morbidity. Al though still important, they no longer yield enough information on which to establish goals and determine policy. Increasing emphasis has been placed on disability, costs, and the social and emotional consequences of disease. During the past thirty years, the federal government has been increasingly involved in a number of health-care programs designed to: (1) advance research; (2) meet manpower, facility, and other resource re quirements; (3) stimulate local, regional, and state initiative and improved co-operation with the federal government; (4) remove financial barriers; (5) improve quality and availability of services; and (6) protect the consumer and improve the quality of our environment.

Health is discussed as both a generalized & a very relative concept, defined to include not only freedom from physical disease & pain, but also soc well-being. The importance of environmental factors is stressed. Measuring health status in the past has been largely dependent on the negative aspects of health-death rate & morbidity. Although still important, they no longer yield enough information on which to establish goals & determine policy. Increasing emphasis has been placed on disability, costs, & the soc & emotional consequences of disease. During the past 30 yrs, the federal gov has been increasingly involved in a number of health-care programs designed to: (1) advance res; (2) meet manpower, facility, & other resource requirements; (3) stimulate local, regional, & state initiative & improved cooperation with the federal gov; (4) remove financial barriers; (5) improve quality & availability of services; & (6) protect the consumer & improve the quality of our environment. HA.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

The making of health policy in the United States is a complex process that involves the private and public sectors, including multiple levels of government. Five characteristics of the policy process are identified, which establish the means by which policies are formulated and which affect the nature of the policies that emerge. These characteristics include (1) the relationship of the government to the private sector; (2) the distribution of authority and responsibility within a federal system of government; (3) the relationship between policy formation and implementation; (4) a pluralistic ideology as the basis of politics; and (5) incrementalism as the strategy for reform. The article focuses on the impact on health policy of the distribution of authority and responsibility within the federal system, particularly the impact of new federalism policies as they emerged during the past decade. The effects of dual federalism, cooperative federalism, creative federalism, and new federalism are examined in relation to health policies. The article concludes with an examination of the challenge to long-established values and health policies posed by new federalism.

The making of health policy in the US is a complex process that involves both the private & public sectors, including multiple levels of government. Five factors that determine how policies are formulated, & that affect the nature of the policies that emerge, are identified: (1) the relationship of the government to the private sector; (2) the distribution of authority & responsibility within a federal system of government; (3) the relationship between policy formation & implementation; (4) a pluralistic ideology as the basis of politics; & (5) incrementalism as the strategy for reform. Focus is on the impact on health policy of the distribution of authority & responsibility within the federal system, particularly the impact of new federalism policies as they emerged during the 1970s. The effects of dual, cooperative, creative, & new federalism are examined in relation to health policies. In conclusion, the challenge to long-established values & health policies posed by the new federalism is examined. HA.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982

If national health insurance becomes a reality, what options should be considered for the coverage of prescription drugs? The authors--whose Pills, Profits, and Politics has had a dramatic effect on physicians, pharmacists, patients, and the drug industry as well as on federal and state legislators--insist that the major objective must be the best possible health care. But holding down costs to patients and taxpayers must also be a goal. <

This article examines the history of efforts to add prescription drug coverage to the Medicare program. It identifies several important patterns in policymaking over four decades. First, prescription drug coverage has usually been tied to the fate of broader proposals for Medicare reform. Second, action has been hampered by divided government, federal budget deficits, and ideological conflict between those seeking to expand the traditional Medicare program and those preferring a greater role for private health care companies. Third, the provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 reflect earlier missed opportunities. Policymakers concluded from past episodes that participation in the new program should be voluntary, with Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers sharing the costs. They ignored lessons from past episodes, however, about the need to match expanded benefits with adequate mechanisms for cost containment. Based on several new circumstances in 2003, the article demonstrates why there was a historic opportunity to add a Medicare prescription drug benefit and identify challenges to implementing an effective policy.