This slender volume offers value on several dimensions. First, it is an explication of recent history that connects the dots from prospective payment to Medicare-based deficit reduction to cost shifting to managed care. By the same token, the story here serves as a bracing corrective to the mythology of market-based reform and the assumption that government's role in health is ... Read moreinescapably a negative one. Health Affairs 2007 Whether discussing the Social Security Amendments of 1972 or the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Mayes and Berenson entertain readers with insider anecdotes about the ideological and practical battles government policymakers fought with powerful provider lobbies. New England Journal of Medicine A highly readable book that traces the history of Medicare prospective payment systems from their enactment in 1983 until today. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law This book provides an excellent primer for physician leaders on the recent history of Medicare and the politics of elected officials using it as a cash cow. The authors challenge practicing physicians to carefully consider what may work in society's best interests to improve health outcomes, rather than primarily focusing on how Medicare benefits their net incomes. JAMA 2008 Mayes and Berenson offer an admirable product in this book, one that we should use to improve our own studies of the state and the agents who help define it.
Andrew B. Whitford International Public Management Journal 2009 Show Less