Despite widespread perceptions to the contrary, health care reform in the United States has blossomed since 1965 -- molded in large part by changes in the nation's chief political institutions. But until now, there has been little attempt to look at health care policymaking from a long-term political perspective. Governing Health does just that.

Drawing on political science research on the institutions of government and the policy process, Governing Health explains how health policy is made. It describes how the Congress, the president, special interest groups, bureaucracy, and state governments affect the process of defining health policy problems and finding politically feasible solutions. It also provides an extensive review of the policies that have governed health care for a generation or more, starting with the passage of Medicare in 1965 and continuing through the national health care debate of 1993-94.