Robert P. Rhodes is Professor of Political Science at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He has also written The Insoluble Problems of Crime and Organized Crime: Crime Control Versus Civil Liberties.

"Rhodes has done a very good job of showing how political decisions quite literally allocate life or death. His use of political science concepts to explain the perplexing nature of health policy problems provides insight that is frequently missing in the discussion of public policy problems." — Fred Meyer, Ball State University"This book offers a thoughtful discussion of the economic and political constraints and resources for providing health care. Its greatest contribution is in synthesizing diverse materials that are relevant to each other but seldom interrelated." — David H. Smith, Indiana University

• Figures TablesAcknowledgmentsPrefacePart I Modern Miracles, Hard Choices1. Health Care Past and Present2. The Irony of Equal Access to Health Care3. Health Care Politics, Policy, and Economics4. Tragic Choice, Technology, and Political Decision-Making5. Young and Old6. Distributive Justice and Health Care RationingPart II Health Care Politics in America 7. The Constitutional Framework8. The Health Care Lobby9. Congress and the Bureaucracy10. Budget Politics: Who Gets What, When, and How11. Socialism, Private Enterprise, or State Regulation12. Courts and Medical Liability: Where Is Justice?13. Medical Liability and the Insurance "Crisis"Index

Robert P. Rhodes is Professor of Political Science at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He has also written The Insoluble Problems of Crime and Organized Crime: Crime Control Versus Civil Liberties.

"Rhodes has done a very good job of showing how political decisions quite literally allocate life or death. His use of political science concepts to explain the perplexing nature of health policy problems provides insight that is frequently missing in the discussion of public policy problems." — Fred Meyer, Ball State University"This book offers a thoughtful discussion of the economic and political constraints and resources for providing health care. Its greatest contribution is in synthesizing diverse materials that are relevant to each other but seldom interrelated." — David H. Smith, Indiana University

• Figures TablesAcknowledgmentsPrefacePart I Modern Miracles, Hard Choices1. Health Care Past and Present2. The Irony of Equal Access to Health Care3. Health Care Politics, Policy, and Economics4. Tragic Choice, Technology, and Political Decision-Making5. Young and Old6. Distributive Justice and Health Care RationingPart II Health Care Politics in America 7. The Constitutional Framework8. The Health Care Lobby9. Congress and the Bureaucracy10. Budget Politics: Who Gets What, When, and How11. Socialism, Private Enterprise, or State Regulation12. Courts and Medical Liability: Where Is Justice?13. Medical Liability and the Insurance "Crisis"Index