Two towering figures in the field of health care policy analysis, Theodore R. Marmor and Rudolf Klein, reflect on a lifetime of thought in this wide-ranging collection of essays published in the wake of President Obama's health care reform. Presented as a kind of dialogue between the two, the book offers their recent writings on the future of Medicare; universal health insurance; conflicts of interest among physicians, regulators, and patients; and many other topics.

Cash transfers are but one form of income supplementation, and a fuller presentation of antipoverty proposals would include both transfers in-kind (such as food, housing, and medical care) and human investment programs aimed at increasing the earning capacity of individuals. Much discussion has centered on how to reduce poverty by getting more cash income in the hands of poor people. This collection brings together in one accessible volume the most widely discussed plans for reducing financial poverty in the United States through cash transfers.

Each topical chapter in this volume crystallizes the findings of a five-year study, under the auspices of the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, that probed the links between social hierarchy, the "macroenvironmental" factors in illness patterns, the quality of the "microenvironmental," and other determinants of health. In its aggregate, this volume will prove essential to an understanding of the underlying public health issues for the next several decades.

Cash transfers are but one form of income supplementation, and a fuller presentation of antipoverty proposals would include both transfers in-kind (such as food, housing, and medical care) and human investment programs aimed at increasing the earning capacity of individuals. Much discussion has centered on how to reduce poverty by getting more cash income in the hands of poor people. This collection brings together in one accessible volume the most widely discussed plans for reducing financial poverty in the United States through cash transfers.

Those who have tried to follow the American debate over cash transfers will undoubtedly have been struck by the confusing ways in which proposals are described and compared. Proposed beneficiaries sometimes provide the basis of comparison, as with proposals of old-age pensions or child allowances. In other cases, plans are described and compared as negative income taxes or welfare reforms by virtue of the administrative changes they imply or the mechanism for reducing benefits with respect to increased income. In this book, the proposals have been thoughtfully grouped to facilitate comparison. Specifically, they have been grouped according to the social problems which they are intended to solve, the advantage being that discussion of means is not so likely to submerge awareness of the ends intended. Arranged in this way, the proposals in this volume are primarily directed at the problems of welfare and poverty, and at the inequities in the tax system's treatment of poor persons. These categories are not, of course, mutually exclusive; the problems are interrelated and the solutions to anyone affect the others indirectly.

Organized in a manageable and comprehensive way, this volume presents some of the widely diverse cash transfer proposals that grew out of reformist debates. This collection will be of interest to a wide array of from scholars of public policy and politics to economics and economic theory.

"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.

First published in 1998. This volume (the second of a twin set grouping articles based on papers presented at seminars in Sigtuna, Sweden, during 1994 - 1996) deals with the largest spending programs of the welfare state - old age pensions and medical care, and their place within debates about the desirability and affordability of modern social programs. The volume is divided into four parts. The first part deals with general welfare state issues, cross-cutting themes and characterizations of whole systems within such diverse disciplines as social law, sociology and economics. Part two deals with old age pension reform. The countries discussed have widely different geographical, cultural and historical backgrounds. Part three takes up a number of interesting topics under the heading of health care reform. Part four deals with a substantial issue located and the juncture of aging, affordability, pensions and especially health care: increased longevity (and population aging) and the associated disability and frailty. What effect will these have on the future of modern welfare states?

First published in 1997, this volume examines why, while mature welfare states are being trimmed and privatised, new social welfare arrangement are implemented in formerly communist and newly industrialised countries. The papers in this volume bring together these different worlds, but also different academic approaches. Micro-economic analyses of social insurance and welfare systems are joined with broader political descriptions of social policy in such disparate regions as Scandinavia, China, Italy, Poland and South Africa. They give the reader a sense of the fundamental problem of finding a social welfare system that fits specific economic and cultural conditions. This volume is the second in a series on international studies of issues in social security. The series is initiated by the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS). One of its aims is to confront different academic approaches with each other, and with public policy perspectives. Another is to give analytic reports of cross-nationally different approaches to the design and reform of welfare state programs. The present and next volume form a twin set in the sense that they both are based on selections from papers presented at seminars held by FISS in 1994-1996.

First published in 1997, this volume examines why, while mature welfare states are being trimmed and privatised, new social welfare arrangement are implemented in formerly communist and newly industrialised countries. The papers in this volume bring together these different worlds, but also different academic approaches. Micro-economic analyses of social insurance and welfare systems are joined with broader political descriptions of social policy in such disparate regions as Scandinavia, China, Italy, Poland and South Africa. They give the reader a sense of the fundamental problem of finding a social welfare system that fits specific economic and cultural conditions. This volume is the second in a series on international studies of issues in social security. The series is initiated by the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS). One of its aims is to confront different academic approaches with each other, and with public policy perspectives. Another is to give analytic reports of cross-nationally different approaches to the design and reform of welfare state programs. The present and next volume form a twin set in the sense that they both are based on selections from papers presented at seminars held by FISS in 1994-1996.

First published in 1998. This volume (the second of a twin set grouping articles based on papers presented at seminars in Sigtuna, Sweden, during 1994 - 1996) deals with the largest spending programs of the welfare state - old age pensions and medical care, and their place within debates about the desirability and affordability of modern social programs. The volume is divided into four parts. The first part deals with general welfare state issues, cross-cutting themes and characterizations of whole systems within such diverse disciplines as social law, sociology and economics. Part two deals with old age pension reform. The countries discussed have widely different geographical, cultural and historical backgrounds. Part three takes up a number of interesting topics under the heading of health care reform. Part four deals with a substantial issue located and the juncture of aging, affordability, pensions and especially health care: increased longevity (and population aging) and the associated disability and frailty. What effect will these have on the future of modern welfare states?

The role of government in medical care, however contentious and bewildering, is increasingly important given that the finance of medical care in Western democracies is now dominated by public expenditures. Why do governments choose the medical programs they do? How do particular struggles in medical care illustrate more general political conflicts? This book stems from Marmor's conviction that political science can provide answers to questions such as these. Furthermore, the essays presented here demonstrate that political analysis is a crucial element of any sensible approach to policy making. The essays are grouped intro three parts. Firstly, how the general findings of a political science illuminate disputes over medical care. Secondly, looks at political conflict in American medicine, such as paying doctors, representing consumers and restraining inflation. Lastly, the essays tie different sorts of political analysis to the appraisal of issues such as national health insurance in the 1970s and procompetitive reform in the early 1980s.

What are the possibilities and prospects for Social Security over the decades ahead? The essays in this interdisciplinary study explore what social insurance has meant historically, socially, economically, politically, and legally in the years since the founding of the American social security system in 1935. Questions examined include: Does Social Security have a coherent and defendable ideology? If so, is that ideology adequate to the demands of a contemporary political environment that seems to emphasize the re-privatization of many roles adopted by the modern welfare state? What explains the peculiarly feverish quality of recent Social Security politics--which has been characterized by periodic high anxiety, claims of doom and crisis, and rigid resistance to any alteration, followed by eventual marginal adjustment and continuing uncertainty about the future? Although the authors do not offer answers for all these questions, they convey confidence about the basic structure of American social security and optimism about its future possibilities. Contributors to the work are Robert M. Ball, Robert M. Cover, Michael J. Graetz, Rudolf Klein, Theodore R. Marmor, Jerry L. Mashaw, Michael O'Higgins, Paul Starr, and James Tobin. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

What are the possibilities and prospects for Social Security over the decades ahead? The essays in this interdisciplinary study explore what social insurance has meant historically, socially, economically, politically, and legally in the years since the founding of the American social security system in 1935. Questions examined include: Does Social Security have a coherent and defendable ideology? If so, is that ideology adequate to the demands of a contemporary political environment that seems to emphasize the re-privatization of many roles adopted by the modern welfare state? What explains the peculiarly feverish quality of recent Social Security politics--which has been characterized by periodic high anxiety, claims of doom and crisis, and rigid resistance to any alteration, followed by eventual marginal adjustment and continuing uncertainty about the future? Although the authors do not offer answers for all these questions, they convey confidence about the basic structure of American social security and optimism about its future possibilities. Contributors to the work are Robert M. Ball, Robert M. Cover, Michael J. Graetz, Rudolf Klein, Theodore R. Marmor, Jerry L. Mashaw, Michael O'Higgins, Paul Starr, and James Tobin. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This book offers a timely account of health reform struggles in developed democracies. The editors, leading experts in the field, have brought together a group of distinguished scholars to explore the ambitions and realities of health care regulation, financing, and delivery across countries. These wide-ranging essays cover policy debates and reforms in Canada, Germany, Holland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as separate treatments of some of the most prominent issues confronting policy makers. These include primary care, hospital care, long-term care, pharmaceutical policy, and private health insurance. The authors are attentive throughout to the ways in which cross-national, comparative research may inform national policy debates not only under the Obama administration but across the world.

The reform of American medical care is the most important topic on the nation's domestic agenda and the centerpiece of the Clinton administration's plans for social policy and long-term economic development. This book, written by a preeminent analyst of medical politics and policy who is a frequent adviser to Congress, helps to clarify the current debate over the President's bill and the proposed alternatives to it. It is essential reading for 1994. Theodore Marmor, whose work has appeared in scholarly journals and books, as well as in the nation's major newspapers and magazines, here presents some of his most recent writings that illuminate the historical, political, and economic considerations lying behind various proposals now under debate. Marmor explains what we can and cannot expect from reform of American medicine, and he addresses the many conflicting claims about the remedies for America's problems with medical costs, quality, access, and organizations. He discusses, for example: -the misplaced faith that cutting waste will greatly ease our financial troubles and markedly improve our health; -the exaggerated arguments for "managed competition"; -the myths that either non-profit or for-profit institutions are the key to reform; -the misleading and fearful debate over rationing; -the lessons to be learned from Canada's and Japan's experiments with universal health insurance; -the controversial place of Medicare in the current reform struggle; -barriers facing implementation of any of the major health care proposals; -and the possibility of fusing different approaches to achieve reform.

This examination of America's social welfare programmes - Social Security, public assistance and medical care - shows that the gloom and doom surrounding most discussions of these institutions stems from false ideas about what these programme are and how they work.