Realignments in the Welfare State

This text explores the changing role of the state in Canada, Britain and the USA in the area of health care. Welfare systems have survived, in many cases, by experimenting with alternative forms of delivering services - this book focuses on how these models signal both persistence and transformation. The book examines cost containment, prioritization and other aspects of the health care policies of Canada, Britain and the USA as case studies in the retrenchment of the welfare state in advanced industrial societies. It argues that the USA, Canada and Britain are undertaking novel approaches to reshaping health care policies, experiments that cannot be characterized or understood according to standard liberal criteria. Although there are many differences in the approaches of these countries, all share underlying principles, norms and modes of decision-making, as they attempt to continue to perform their tasks under new constraints.