Review Of Markets And Medicine: The Politics Of Health Care Reform In Britain, Germany, And The United States By S. Giaimo

The focus of this work is health policy reforms motivated by the desire for cost containment in Britain, Germany, and the US. Central to Giaimo\u27s analysis is the role that markets--while interacting with other forces--play in containing costs. The author reviews each country\u27s historical governance structure and then analyzes strategies employed in recent years in an attempt to contain costs, strategies that exhibit varying degrees of reliance on the market. Interestingly, in some instances, these strategies arose, at least in part, not top down from the government but, rather, up from private market interests. Although markets are central to this analysis, Giaimo also incorporates the market\u27s interaction with institutional factors, ranging from political power and governance structures to social values and the structure of the health care sector itself, showing that these factors play a significant role in determining the success or failure of reforms. The book\u27s inclusion of historical experience with evaluation of recent reform efforts makes it a valuable addition to collections on comparative health care policy or the analysis of social policy reform more generally. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections