A collection of readings--for medical students and students of public health-- that deal with social and cultural issues in medicine.

Preface to the Second Edition viiIntroduction 1Part I: The Uninsured, Health Care Costs, and Public ProgramsThe U.S. Health Care System: On a Road to Nowhere? / Jonathan Oberlander 5Wanted: A Clearly Articulated Social Ethic for American Health Care / Uwe E. Reinhardt 25From Bismarck to Medicare - A Brief History of Medical Care Payment In America / Donald L. Madison 31The Sad History of Health Care Cost Containment as Told in One Chart / Drew E. Altman and Larry Levitt 67The Unsurprising Surprise of Renewed Health Care Cost Inflation / Henry J. Aaron 70The Not-So-Sad History of Medicare Cost: Containment as Told In One Chart / Thomas Bodenheimer 73Medicaid and Medicare: The Unanticipated Politics of Public Insurance Programs / Lawrence d. Brown and Michael S. Sparer 76Part II: Managed Care, Markets, and RationingBedside Manna / Deborah Stone 95Must Good HMOs Go Bad? The Commercialization of Prepaid Group Health Care / Robert Kuttner 107Defending My Life / Geov Parrish 119Business vs. Medical Ethics: Conflicting Standards for Managed Care / Wendy K. Mariner 128The Prostitute, the Playboy, and the Poet: Rationing Schemes for Organ Transplantation / George J. Annas 150Ethics of Queuing for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Canada / Jafna L. Cox 158Rationing in Practice: The Case of In Vitro Fertilization / Sharon Redmayne and Rudolf Klein 167Part III: International Perspectives and Emerging IssuesReforming the Health Care System: The Universal Dilemma / Uwe E. Reinhardt 179Health Care in Four Nations / Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach 199Keeping Quality on the Policy Agenda / Elizabeth A. McGlynn and Robert H. Brook 230What's Ahead for Health Insurance in the United States? / Victor R. Fuchs 240Luxury Primary Care - Market Innovation or Threat to Access? / Troyen A. Brennan 246Correspondence: Response to "Luxury Primary Care" 255Limiting Health Care for the Old / Daniel Callahan 260Scapegoating the Aged: Intergenerational Equaity and Age-Based Rationing / Robert H. Binstock 267Index to Authors 285About the Editors 287