The Politics of Medicare (Social Institutions and Social Change Series) - Softcover

Marmor, Theodore A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0202304256 ISBN 13: 9780202304250

Publisher: Aldine Transaction, 2000

Synopsis

On July 30, 1965, President Johnson flew to Independence, Missouri to sign the Medicare bill. The new statute included two related insurance programs to finance substantial portions of the hospital and physician expenses incurred by Americans over the age of sixty-five. Public attempts to improve American health standards have typically precipitated bitter debate, even as the issue has shifted from the professional and legal status of physicians to the availability of hospital care and public health programs. In The Politics of Medicare, Marmor helps the reader understand Medicare's origins, and he interprets the history of the program and explores what happened to Medicare politically as it turned from a legislative act in the mid-1960s to a major program of American government in the three decades since. This is a vibrant study of an important piece of legislation that asks and answers several questions: How could the American political system yield a policy that simultaneously appeased anti-governmental biases and used the federal government to provide a major entitlement? How was the American Medical Association legally overcome yet placated enough to participate in the program? And how did the Medicare law emerge so enlarged from earlier proposals that themselves had caused so much controversy?

About this title

Review:

"This new edition makes an extraordinary contribution to the literature of public policy and political science. ...[T]his book provides invaluable insights for anyone interested in legislative initiatives, especially in domestic policy, but also in foreign affairs. In sum: an extraordinary achievement."--Graham Allison, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Using the past to illuminate the present, Ted Marmor has produced an elegant, precise, and scholarly accounting of Medicare's tangled politics. Appearing at the dawn of the new century, this is a wise and important book that will perform an invaluable service in helping America to confront its demographic future."--Finlay Lewis, Economics Correspondent, Copley News Service

"This new edition makes an extraordinary contribution to the literature of public policy and political science. ...[T]his book provides invaluable insights for anyone interested in legislative initiatives, especially in domestic policy, but also in foreign affairs. In sum: an extraordinary achievement."

--Graham Allison, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Using the past to illuminate the present, Ted Marmor has produced an elegant, precise, and scholarly accounting of Medicare's tangled politics. Appearing at the dawn of the new century, this is a wise and important book that will perform an invaluable service in helping America to confront its demographic future."

--Finlay Lewis, Economics Correspondent, Copley News Service

"[A] cogent, compelling, and still largely uncontested account of the passage of America's largest and most politically salient government health program."

--Jacob S. Hacker, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"The Politics of Medicare . . . can be rightly viewed as a founding book in the study of health politics. . . . The second edition of Marmor's book provides a glimpse of what an alternative view of Medicare--one more informed by political science than economic theory--would look like. . . . The Politics of Medicare is free of the thick language, models, and formal theory that make so much of contemporary political science unreadable and frequently unintelligible."

--Jonathan Oberlander, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"I do not believe . . . that there is any other single publication on this subject that has endured as well as The Politics of Medicare, or that prompted an invitation to revise an original volume so many years after its inception."

--Mark A. Peterson, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"[T]he second edition of The Politics of Medicare is a model of clarity, concision, and . . . accuracy."

--Bruce C. Vladeck, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"The substance of policies that are enacted is also shaped profoundly by politics and, in turn, shapes politics. Marmor's The Politics of Medicare recognizes this fundamental point and seeks to illuminate how the character of the program [Medicare] has followed so directly from its politics. . . . [W]hat will determine whether Congress changes Medicare [...]? The answer is the politics of Medicare--to which there is no better guide than Marmor's book."

--Journal of the American Medical Association

"This new edition makes an extraordinary contribution to the literature of public policy and political science. ...[T]his book provides invaluable insights for anyone interested in legislative initiatives, especially in domestic policy, but also in foreign affairs. In sum: an extraordinary achievement."

--Graham Allison, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Using the past to illuminate the present, Ted Marmor has produced an elegant, precise, and scholarly accounting of Medicare's tangled politics. Appearing at the dawn of the new century, this is a wise and important book that will perform an invaluable service in helping America to confront its demographic future."

--Finlay Lewis, Economics Correspondent, Copley News Service

"[A] cogent, compelling, and still largely uncontested account of the passage of America's largest and most politically salient government health program."

--Jacob S. Hacker, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"The Politics of Medicare . . . can be rightly viewed as a founding book in the study of health politics. . . . The second edition of Marmor's book provides a glimpse of what an alternative view of Medicare--one more informed by political science than economic theory--would look like. . . . The Politics of Medicare is free of the thick language, models, and formal theory that make so much of contemporary political science unreadable and frequently unintelligible."

--Jonathan Oberlander, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"I do not believe . . . that there is any other single publication on this subject that has endured as well as The Politics of Medicare, or that prompted an invitation to revise an original volume so many years after its inception."

--Mark A. Peterson, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"[T]he second edition of The Politics of Medicare is a model of clarity, concision, and . . . accuracy."

--Bruce C. Vladeck, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

"The substance of policies that are enacted is also shaped profoundly by politics and, in turn, shapes politics. Marmor's The Politics of Medicare recognizes this fundamental point and seeks to illuminate how the character of the program [Medicare] has followed so directly from its politics. . . . [W]hat will determine whether Congress changes Medicare [...]? The answer is the politics of Medicare--to which there is no better guide than Marmor's book."

--Journal of the American Medical Association

"This new edition makes an extraordinary contribution to the literature of public policy and political science. ...[T]his book provides invaluable insights for anyone interested in legislative initiatives, especially in domestic policy, but also in foreign affairs. In sum: an extraordinary achievement."

--Graham Allison, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Using the past to illuminate the present, Ted Marmor has produced an elegant, precise, and scholarly accounting of Medicare's tangled politics. Appearing at the dawn of the new century, this is a wise and important book that will perform an invaluable service in helping America to confront its demographic future."

--Finlay Lewis, Economics Correspondent, Copley News Service

-[A] cogent, compelling, and still largely uncontested account of the passage of America's largest and most politically salient government health program.-

--Jacob S. Hacker, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

-The Politics of Medicare . . . can be rightly viewed as a founding book in the study of health politics. . . . The second edition of Marmor's book provides a glimpse of what an alternative view of Medicare--one more informed by political science than economic theory--would look like. . . . The Politics of Medicare is free of the thick language, models, and formal theory that make so much of contemporary political science unreadable and frequently unintelligible.-

--Jonathan Oberlander, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

-I do not believe . . . that there is any other single publication on this subject that has endured as well as The Politics of Medicare, or that prompted an invitation to revise an original volume so many years after its inception.-

--Mark A. Peterson, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

-[T]he second edition of The Politics of Medicare is a model of clarity, concision, and . . . accuracy.-

--Bruce C. Vladeck, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law (symposium of reviews)

-The substance of policies that are enacted is also shaped profoundly by politics and, in turn, shapes politics. Marmor's The Politics of Medicare recognizes this fundamental point and seeks to illuminate how the character of the program [Medicare] has followed so directly from its politics. . . . [W]hat will determine whether Congress changes Medicare [...]? The answer is the politics of Medicare--to which there is no better guide than Marmor's book.-

--Journal of the American Medical Association

-This new edition makes an extraordinary contribution to the literature of public policy and political science. ...[T]his book provides invaluable insights for anyone interested in legislative initiatives, especially in domestic policy, but also in foreign affairs. In sum: an extraordinary achievement.-

--Graham Allison, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

-Using the past to illuminate the present, Ted Marmor has produced an elegant, precise, and scholarly accounting of Medicare's tangled politics. Appearing at the dawn of the new century, this is a wise and important book that will perform an invaluable service in helping America to confront its demographic future.-

--Finlay Lewis, Economics Correspondent, Copley News Service

About the Author:

Theodore R. Marmor is professor of public policy and management and professor of political science at Yale School of Management. He currently sits on the editorial board of both the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice and Journal of Health, Politics, Policy, and Law as well as on the international advisory board of the London School of Economics (Health and Social Care). He is an author or co-author of numerous books and author of over a hundred scholarly articles

About this edition

• Publisher: Aldine Transaction
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0202304256
• ISBN 13: 9780202304250
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 268