Examines health care policymaking from a long-term, political perspective, describing how Congress, the president, special interest groups, bureaucracy, and state governments help define health policy problems and find politically feasible solutions. This book covers legislative efforts, including the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

"No other book offers a better overview of what every health professional or anyone who is intensely interested in health affairs should know about the politics of policymaking." - Daniel M. Fox, JAMA, reviewing a previous edition or volume "One of the most important books in health care policy to have been written in years." - Michael Harris, Perspectives on Political Science, reviewing a previous edition or volume "Even for those who have studied health policy extensively, the Weisserts' book is so thorough (and absorbing) that one can expect to encounter new information, research findings, and insights." - Deborah McFarlane, Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, reviewing a previous edition or volume "A useful textbook for those in medical care with only a passing knowledge of the patterns of federal policy making in the postwar period." - Theodore R. Marmor, New England Journal of Medicine, reviewing a previous edition or volume"