The Politics of Medicaid

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-231-15060-6
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 416 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 718 g

In 1965, the United States government enacted legislation to provide low-income individuals with quality health care and related services. Initially viewed as the friendless stepchild of Medicare, Medicaid has grown exponentially since its inception, becoming a formidable force of its own. Funded jointly by the national government and each of the fifty states, the program is now the fourth most expensive item in the federal budget and the second largest category of spending for almost every state. Now, under the new, historic health care reform legislation, Medicaid is scheduled to include sixteen million more people.

Laura Katz Olson, an expert on health, aging, and long-term care policy, unravels the multifaceted and perplexing puzzle of Medicaid with respect to those who invest in and benefit from the program. Assessing the social, political, and economic dynamics that have shaped Medicaid for almost half a century, she helps readers of all backgrounds understand the entrenched and powerful interests woven into the system that have been instrumental in swelling costs and holding elected officials hostage. Addressing such fundamental questions as whether patients receive good care and whether Medicaid meets the needs of the low-income population it is supposed to serve, Olson evaluates the extent to which the program is an appropriate foundation for health care reform.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Olson, Laura Katz

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Zentralregierung
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Olson, Laura Katz
Laura Katz Olson is AGF Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University. She is the author of nine books, mostly focusing on the U.S. health system: The Political Economy of Aging: The State, Private Power and Social Welfare (Praeger, 2013); The Not So Golden Year: Caregiving, the Frail Elderly and the Long-Term Care Establishment (Rowman and Littlefield, 2003); The Handbook of Long-Term Care Administration and Policy (Routledge, 2008); and The Politics of Medicaid (CUP, 2010). Her most recent book, Elder Care Journey: A View from the Front Lines, won a Gold Medal in the 2017 Living Now Book award competition. It was also a finalist for the 2017 Sarton Women’s Book Award. She also has served on the American Political Science Council and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Aging Studies and New Political Science. In 2009, she received the Charles A. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Laura Katz Olson is professor of political science at Lehigh University. Among her seven books are The Political Economy of Aging: The State, Private Power, and Social Welfare; Aging and Public Policy: The Politics of Growing Old in America; Age Through Ethnic Lenses: Caring for the Elderly in a Multicultural Society; and The Not So Golden Years: Caregiving, the Frail Elderly, and the Long-Term Care Establishment. She has published widely in the field of aging, health care, and women's studies and has lectured on Social Security, Medicare, and long-term care policy.