Fully updated for this new edition, "Health Care Politics and Policy in America" combines background and context for the evolution of U.S. health care policy with analysis of recent trends and current issues. The book introduces public policy students to the complex array of healthcare issues, and healthcare professionals to the study of public policy. It provides comprehensive coverage of policy issues related to healthcare at the federal state, and provider/patient levels, from Medicare and Medicaid funding and managed care to medical liability law and ongoing debates over the beginning of life and end-of-life decisions. "Health Care Politics and Policy in America" successfully integrates political, ethical, economic, legal, technological, and medical factors in an issue-focused survey of U.S. healthcare policy; and includes a chronology of healthcare-policy-related events and legislation from 1798 through 2005 and an appendix comparing medical malpractice tort laws state-by-state.