History and Health Policy in the United States

Rosemary A. Stevens is DeWitt Wallace distinguished scholar in social medicine and public policy at Weill Cornell Medical College and professor emerita of the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania. Charles E. Rosenberg is a professor of the history of science and Ernest E. Monrad Professor in the social sciences at Harvard University. Lawton R. Burns is the James Joo-Jin Kim Professor of health care systems at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Foreword by David MechanicAcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Rosemary A. StevensPart I: Actors and InterpretationsChapter 1 - Anticipated Consequences: Historians, History, and Health Policy by Charles E. RosenbergChapter 2 - The More Things Stay the Same the More They Change: The Odd Interplay between Government and Ideology in the Recent Political History of the U.S. Health-Care System by Lawrence D. BrownChapter 3 - Medical Specialization as American Health Policy: Interweaving Public and Private Roles by Rosemary A. StevensPart II: Rhetoric, Rights, ResponsibilitiesChapter 4 - Patients of Health-Care Consumers? Why the History of Contested Terms Matters by Nancy TomesChapter 5 - The Democratization of Privacy: Public-Health Surveillance and Changing Conceptions of Privacy in Twentieth-Century America by Amy L. FairchildChapter 6 - Building a Toxic Environment: Historical Controversies over the Past and Future of Public Health by Gerald Markowitz and David RosnerPart III: Priorities and PoliticsChapter 7 - Situating Health Risks: An Opportunity for Disease-Prevention Policy by Robert A. AronowitzChapter 8 - The Jewel in the Federal Crown? History, Politics, and the National Institutes of Health by Robert Cook-Deegan and Michael McGearyChapter 9 - A Marriage of Convenience: The Persistent and Changing Relationship between Long-Term Care and Medicaid by Colleen M. GroganPart IV: Policy Management and ResultsChapter 10 - Rhetoric, Realities, and the Plight of the Mentally Ill in America by David Mechanic and Gerald N. GrobChapter 11 - Emergency Rooms: The Reluctant Safety Net by Beatrix HoffmanChapter 12 - Policy Implications of Hospital System Failures: The Allegheny Bankruptcy by Lawton R. Burns and Alexandra P. BurnsChapter 13 - The Rise and Decline of the HMO: A Chapter in U.S. Health-Policy History by Bradford H. GrayContributorsIndex

This rich array of essays shows how the lens of history can clarify contemporary health policy dilemmas and enable the reader to see ahead more clearly. - Harvey V. Fineberg (President, Institute of Medicine) This rich array of essays shows how the lens of history can clarify contemporary health policy dilemmas and enable the reader to see ahead more clearly. - Harvey V. Fineberg (President, Institute of Medicine) This is an important book for those wrestling with the appropriate role of markets in U.S. health policy because it helps to explain why the U.S. doesn't achieve a high performance health system that generates value for money spent. - Karen Davis (President, The Commonwealth Fund) A refreshing antidote for those finding it difficult to envision a better future for health care in America because they are trapped in the present. By focusing on history, this excellent book helps us all to better understand the subtle relationship between values, institutions, economics, and medicine that shapes our health system. - Stuart M Butler (Vice-President for Domestic Policy, The Heritage Foundation)