Theodore R. Marmor
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390131
- eISBN:
- 9780199775934
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390131.003.015
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter addresses the past four decades of American health care politics, asking whether the idea of fragmentation provides a central and helpful analytical perspective. Part I reviews the ...
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This chapter addresses the past four decades of American health care politics, asking whether the idea of fragmentation provides a central and helpful analytical perspective. Part I reviews the highlights of health policy disputes from the 1970s to the 2000s. Part II places the United States in comparative perspective. Part III discusses the regulation versus competition debate that has been such a dominant part of American medical care discussion since the 1970s. Part IV discusses the issues raised by efforts to reform Medicare, and questions whether the theme of fragmentation illuminates those policy disputes. Part V concludes that fragmentation refers to many disparate features of American medical care and politics, and is illuminating only when tied to specific institutions, internests, and ideas.Less
This chapter addresses the past four decades of American health care politics, asking whether the idea of fragmentation provides a central and helpful analytical perspective. Part I reviews the highlights of health policy disputes from the 1970s to the 2000s. Part II places the United States in comparative perspective. Part III discusses the regulation versus competition debate that has been such a dominant part of American medical care discussion since the 1970s. Part IV discusses the issues raised by efforts to reform Medicare, and questions whether the theme of fragmentation illuminates those policy disputes. Part V concludes that fragmentation refers to many disparate features of American medical care and politics, and is illuminating only when tied to specific institutions, internests, and ideas.
Mark A. Peterson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195170665
- eISBN:
- 9780199850204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170665.003.0036
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter argues that Congress may be called the graveyard of major health reforms. It begins by examining the institutional setting of U.S. governance in which Congress is embedded and highlights ...
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This chapter argues that Congress may be called the graveyard of major health reforms. It begins by examining the institutional setting of U.S. governance in which Congress is embedded and highlights the challenges this generally poses for large-scale policy making compared with of other countries. The chapter then examines the problem of coalition building in legislatures to illustrate the challenges and opportunities engendered by Congress in the twentieth century. It highlights the manner in which the system's institutional features and health-care politics have changed over time, creating different opportunities for coalition building, and then explains why those opportunities have been missed or ineffectively pursued. The chapter concludes with some ideas for enhancing future opportunities to enact universal coverage.Less
This chapter argues that Congress may be called the graveyard of major health reforms. It begins by examining the institutional setting of U.S. governance in which Congress is embedded and highlights the challenges this generally poses for large-scale policy making compared with of other countries. The chapter then examines the problem of coalition building in legislatures to illustrate the challenges and opportunities engendered by Congress in the twentieth century. It highlights the manner in which the system's institutional features and health-care politics have changed over time, creating different opportunities for coalition building, and then explains why those opportunities have been missed or ineffectively pursued. The chapter concludes with some ideas for enhancing future opportunities to enact universal coverage.
Stephen Peckham and Micky Willmott
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847427588
- eISBN:
- 9781447305576
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847427588.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Robert Alford used a case-study approach to determine why attempts at health care reform in New York in the 1970s often failed to resolve problems in the health system such as rising costs, staff ...
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Robert Alford used a case-study approach to determine why attempts at health care reform in New York in the 1970s often failed to resolve problems in the health system such as rising costs, staff shortages, poor outcomes and poor quality of care (1975, xi). His argument — set out in the book Health Care Politics: Ideological and Interest Group Barriers to Reform — was that embedded structural interests thwarted major reform. Alford identified three types of structural interests: dominant, challenging and repressed. His central argument has three broad elements, the first of which is that bureaucratic and market reforms of health care are likely ultimately to fail. This is due to their general failure to understand how embedded structural interests operate within health care systems. The second is that health policy is affected by an ongoing conflict between dominant and challenging interests. While in his example he shows ‘professional monopolisers’ as the dominant interest and ‘corporate rationalisers’ as the challenging interest, Alford was not prescriptive about this and foresaw that different interest groups may occupy these interests. However, his final point was that the community is normally the repressed interest, and that while both monopolisers and rationalisers may court and collaborate with groups representing these interests, this would be for the benefit of their own interests, too. This appears to be borne out in more recent UK-based studies.Less
Robert Alford used a case-study approach to determine why attempts at health care reform in New York in the 1970s often failed to resolve problems in the health system such as rising costs, staff shortages, poor outcomes and poor quality of care (1975, xi). His argument — set out in the book Health Care Politics: Ideological and Interest Group Barriers to Reform — was that embedded structural interests thwarted major reform. Alford identified three types of structural interests: dominant, challenging and repressed. His central argument has three broad elements, the first of which is that bureaucratic and market reforms of health care are likely ultimately to fail. This is due to their general failure to understand how embedded structural interests operate within health care systems. The second is that health policy is affected by an ongoing conflict between dominant and challenging interests. While in his example he shows ‘professional monopolisers’ as the dominant interest and ‘corporate rationalisers’ as the challenging interest, Alford was not prescriptive about this and foresaw that different interest groups may occupy these interests. However, his final point was that the community is normally the repressed interest, and that while both monopolisers and rationalisers may court and collaborate with groups representing these interests, this would be for the benefit of their own interests, too. This appears to be borne out in more recent UK-based studies.
David Baruffati, Mhairi Mackenzie, David Walsh, and Bruce Whyte
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781447349778
- eISBN:
- 9781447349792
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447349778.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
The comparatively poor contemporary health profiles of Scotland and, in particular, Glasgow have become widely known. Drawing on a body of research compiled by the Glasgow Centre for Population ...
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The comparatively poor contemporary health profiles of Scotland and, in particular, Glasgow have become widely known. Drawing on a body of research compiled by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, this chapter provides a detailed examination of the health profiles of these populations as they have been shaped over time. The chapter begins by tracing their historical development in their UK and European context, before turning to examine the political, social and economic causal factors and processes which have, over time, contributed to the particularly poor health outcomes experienced in Glasgow. Building on this knowledge, the chapter draws to a close by exploring the potential future health trajectory of the city’s population. Glasgow provides a potent case for other cities and countries as they consider the ways in which politics and policy come to shape health, and health inequalities, across their populations.Less
The comparatively poor contemporary health profiles of Scotland and, in particular, Glasgow have become widely known. Drawing on a body of research compiled by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, this chapter provides a detailed examination of the health profiles of these populations as they have been shaped over time. The chapter begins by tracing their historical development in their UK and European context, before turning to examine the political, social and economic causal factors and processes which have, over time, contributed to the particularly poor health outcomes experienced in Glasgow. Building on this knowledge, the chapter draws to a close by exploring the potential future health trajectory of the city’s population. Glasgow provides a potent case for other cities and countries as they consider the ways in which politics and policy come to shape health, and health inequalities, across their populations.
Katherine E. Smith, Clare Bambra, and Sarah E. Hill (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198703358
- eISBN:
- 9780191772603
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198703358.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
The UK has been recognized as a global leader in health inequalities research and policy. Yet, despite post-1997 policy commitments, by most measures the UK’s health inequalities have continued to ...
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The UK has been recognized as a global leader in health inequalities research and policy. Yet, despite post-1997 policy commitments, by most measures the UK’s health inequalities have continued to widen. This failure has prompted calls for new approaches to health inequalities research and policy, alongside a growing sense that public health researchers ought to be more actively involved in ‘public health advocacy’. However, there is currently no agreement as to what these new research agendas should be or precisely what it is that public health egalitarians ought to be advocating. This book aims to address these gaps. It begins by taking stock of the UK’s experiences of health inequalities research and policy to date, reflecting on the lessons that have been learnt from these experiences, both within the UK and internationally. It then moves on to identify emergent research and policy topics, exploring the perspectives of actors working in a range of professional settings on these agendas. Finally, the book considers potential ways of improving the links between health inequalities research, policy, and practice, including via advocacy.Less
The UK has been recognized as a global leader in health inequalities research and policy. Yet, despite post-1997 policy commitments, by most measures the UK’s health inequalities have continued to widen. This failure has prompted calls for new approaches to health inequalities research and policy, alongside a growing sense that public health researchers ought to be more actively involved in ‘public health advocacy’. However, there is currently no agreement as to what these new research agendas should be or precisely what it is that public health egalitarians ought to be advocating. This book aims to address these gaps. It begins by taking stock of the UK’s experiences of health inequalities research and policy to date, reflecting on the lessons that have been learnt from these experiences, both within the UK and internationally. It then moves on to identify emergent research and policy topics, exploring the perspectives of actors working in a range of professional settings on these agendas. Finally, the book considers potential ways of improving the links between health inequalities research, policy, and practice, including via advocacy.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804780544
- eISBN:
- 9780804781916
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804780544.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter examines the local and community institutions that influence technological development and markets for the pharmaceutical industry. It investigates the role of cities and localized ...
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This chapter examines the local and community institutions that influence technological development and markets for the pharmaceutical industry. It investigates the role of cities and localized production in the wider context of the distribution of medicines, changing global regulation, and knowledge production and national pressures for redistributive health politics. It also explores the political philosophies and local context that undergird market exchange and suggests that the regulation of production, delivery, and consumption influence the markets in distinct spatial, temporal, and historical ways.Less
This chapter examines the local and community institutions that influence technological development and markets for the pharmaceutical industry. It investigates the role of cities and localized production in the wider context of the distribution of medicines, changing global regulation, and knowledge production and national pressures for redistributive health politics. It also explores the political philosophies and local context that undergird market exchange and suggests that the regulation of production, delivery, and consumption influence the markets in distinct spatial, temporal, and historical ways.
Alondra Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816676484
- eISBN:
- 9781452948164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676484.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter gives an account of the history of African American health-focused activisms that led to the Black Panther Party’s health politics. It surveys significant moments of the long civil ...
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This chapter gives an account of the history of African American health-focused activisms that led to the Black Panther Party’s health politics. It surveys significant moments of the long civil rights movement that were mobilized in response to the forms of health inequality experienced by black communities, such as lack of access to healthcare resources; exclusion from whites-only hospitals; refusal of admission to professional schools, associations, and organizations; deficient or non-existent medical care; and deliberate neglect and medical abuse. The Black Panther was considered an heir to health activism, which directly reflected tactics drawn from the tradition of African American health politics.Less
This chapter gives an account of the history of African American health-focused activisms that led to the Black Panther Party’s health politics. It surveys significant moments of the long civil rights movement that were mobilized in response to the forms of health inequality experienced by black communities, such as lack of access to healthcare resources; exclusion from whites-only hospitals; refusal of admission to professional schools, associations, and organizations; deficient or non-existent medical care; and deliberate neglect and medical abuse. The Black Panther was considered an heir to health activism, which directly reflected tactics drawn from the tradition of African American health politics.
Betty Livingston Adams
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814745465
- eISBN:
- 9781479880324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814745465.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter discusses black church women’s activism under the stress of the Great Depression and New Deal, social and economic dislocations that turned black housing and black bodies into contested ...
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This chapter discusses black church women’s activism under the stress of the Great Depression and New Deal, social and economic dislocations that turned black housing and black bodies into contested sites. In the politics of health and housing, white and black suburbanites appropriated New Deal language and formulated competing narratives of citizenship and rights: black residents conflated personal responsibility and government-directed structural intervention to make their claim for civil rights; white middle-class homeowners’ associations cast black residents as inimical to the suburb’s civic and economic security. Despite the popularity of taxpayer-funded National Housing Acts, anti-syphilis campaigns, and racial covenants and local zoning and health ordinances that reinforced the trope of the suburb as a white middle-class preserve, black women staved off imminent threats of racial cleansing and educated a new generation of women in the struggle for social justice.Less
This chapter discusses black church women’s activism under the stress of the Great Depression and New Deal, social and economic dislocations that turned black housing and black bodies into contested sites. In the politics of health and housing, white and black suburbanites appropriated New Deal language and formulated competing narratives of citizenship and rights: black residents conflated personal responsibility and government-directed structural intervention to make their claim for civil rights; white middle-class homeowners’ associations cast black residents as inimical to the suburb’s civic and economic security. Despite the popularity of taxpayer-funded National Housing Acts, anti-syphilis campaigns, and racial covenants and local zoning and health ordinances that reinforced the trope of the suburb as a white middle-class preserve, black women staved off imminent threats of racial cleansing and educated a new generation of women in the struggle for social justice.
Ian Greener, Barbara E. Harrington, David J. Hunter, Russell Mannion, and Martin Powell
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781447307112
- eISBN:
- 9781447310938
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447307112.003.0002
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter aims to provide the context for the rest of the book, exploring the NHS in 1990 in terms of its organisational structure and dynamics at that time. The chapter proceeds by presenting the ...
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This chapter aims to provide the context for the rest of the book, exploring the NHS in 1990 in terms of its organisational structure and dynamics at that time. The chapter proceeds by presenting the background to health organisation and policy in 1990 to provide a starting point for the account of subsequent reorganisations. It explores in more depth attempts at reorganisation during the 1980s in order to construct the ‘shared vision’ of health politics in the 1990s which provides the starting point, and context, for the book’s analysis.Less
This chapter aims to provide the context for the rest of the book, exploring the NHS in 1990 in terms of its organisational structure and dynamics at that time. The chapter proceeds by presenting the background to health organisation and policy in 1990 to provide a starting point for the account of subsequent reorganisations. It explores in more depth attempts at reorganisation during the 1980s in order to construct the ‘shared vision’ of health politics in the 1990s which provides the starting point, and context, for the book’s analysis.
Alondra Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816676484
- eISBN:
- 9781452948164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676484.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter explores how and why the survival or “serve the people” programs came to play a central role in the Black Panther Party organization, focusing on factors that caused the evolution of the ...
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This chapter explores how and why the survival or “serve the people” programs came to play a central role in the Black Panther Party organization, focusing on factors that caused the evolution of the Black Panther’s health politics. The ideas of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon provided a conceptual bridge between the Panther’s political philosophy, its community service ethos, and its health politics. The theorists’ influence is reflected in how the Party afforded an integral role to medicine in its imagination of a “robust” social body. Between January 1968 and December 1969, the Black Panther became subject to repressive police power, resulting to at least 28 murdered members.Less
This chapter explores how and why the survival or “serve the people” programs came to play a central role in the Black Panther Party organization, focusing on factors that caused the evolution of the Black Panther’s health politics. The ideas of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon provided a conceptual bridge between the Panther’s political philosophy, its community service ethos, and its health politics. The theorists’ influence is reflected in how the Party afforded an integral role to medicine in its imagination of a “robust” social body. Between January 1968 and December 1969, the Black Panther became subject to repressive police power, resulting to at least 28 murdered members.
Nitsan Chorev
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450655
- eISBN:
- 9780801463921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450655.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book examines the nature of international health politics by focusing on how the World Health Organization (WHO) bureaucracy has responded to external demands in a way that satisfies the member ...
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This book examines the nature of international health politics by focusing on how the World Health Organization (WHO) bureaucracy has responded to external demands in a way that satisfies the member states making those demands while protecting the organization's material interests and core principles. More specifically, it discusses the WHO's strategic response to the New International Economic Order in the 1970s and early 1980s and, following a period of relative inaction, to neoliberalism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each period, the book identifies the exogenous demands and then analyzes the adaptive strategies used by the WHO secretariat in protecting the organization's goals. It shows that the WHO secretariat was able to reframe the content of the demands of member states to fit its own institutional culture.Less
This book examines the nature of international health politics by focusing on how the World Health Organization (WHO) bureaucracy has responded to external demands in a way that satisfies the member states making those demands while protecting the organization's material interests and core principles. More specifically, it discusses the WHO's strategic response to the New International Economic Order in the 1970s and early 1980s and, following a period of relative inaction, to neoliberalism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each period, the book identifies the exogenous demands and then analyzes the adaptive strategies used by the WHO secretariat in protecting the organization's goals. It shows that the WHO secretariat was able to reframe the content of the demands of member states to fit its own institutional culture.
Rachel Kahn Best
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190918408
- eISBN:
- 9780190918446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190918408.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Health, Illness, and Medicine
For more than a century, disease campaigns have been the causes Americans ask their neighbors to donate to and the issues that inspire them to march and volunteer. Studies of social movements, ...
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For more than a century, disease campaigns have been the causes Americans ask their neighbors to donate to and the issues that inspire them to march and volunteer. Studies of social movements, interest groups, agenda setting, and social problems tend to focus on contentious politics and study one movement or organization at a time. But these approaches cannot reveal why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes charity and public policy. Understanding the causes and effects of disease campaigns, requires studying consensus politics and collecting data on fields of organizations over long time periods.Less
For more than a century, disease campaigns have been the causes Americans ask their neighbors to donate to and the issues that inspire them to march and volunteer. Studies of social movements, interest groups, agenda setting, and social problems tend to focus on contentious politics and study one movement or organization at a time. But these approaches cannot reveal why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes charity and public policy. Understanding the causes and effects of disease campaigns, requires studying consensus politics and collecting data on fields of organizations over long time periods.
Ellen M. Immergut
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198860525
- eISBN:
- 9780191892561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter sets the stage for Health Politics in Europe: A Handbook by explaining the motivation for the HEALTHDOX study upon which it is based, introducing the key themes and concepts, and ...
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This chapter sets the stage for Health Politics in Europe: A Handbook by explaining the motivation for the HEALTHDOX study upon which it is based, introducing the key themes and concepts, and providing an overview of the historical development and institutions of European healthcare systems, as well as current political conflicts and policy trends. The chapter explains how European health systems have been shaped by several centuries of political development, featuring a series of regime crises and challenges. It takes a closer look at political and policy developments since 1989, which importantly included the privatization of most Eastern European healthcare systems and experiments with new public management in Western Europe, recapping the highlights of the book’s thirty-five country cases. The chapter provides definitions and examples of the main types of healthcare financing in Europe and highlights the variation in the public–private mix and extent of out-of-pocket payment. The main theories for analyzing health politics are presented, including the concept of political veto points, and their significance for health politics.Less
This chapter sets the stage for Health Politics in Europe: A Handbook by explaining the motivation for the HEALTHDOX study upon which it is based, introducing the key themes and concepts, and providing an overview of the historical development and institutions of European healthcare systems, as well as current political conflicts and policy trends. The chapter explains how European health systems have been shaped by several centuries of political development, featuring a series of regime crises and challenges. It takes a closer look at political and policy developments since 1989, which importantly included the privatization of most Eastern European healthcare systems and experiments with new public management in Western Europe, recapping the highlights of the book’s thirty-five country cases. The chapter provides definitions and examples of the main types of healthcare financing in Europe and highlights the variation in the public–private mix and extent of out-of-pocket payment. The main theories for analyzing health politics are presented, including the concept of political veto points, and their significance for health politics.
Jane Gingrich and Scott L. Greer
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198860525
- eISBN:
- 9780191892561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter looks at health politics and the comprehensive, tax-funded (largely free at point of service) health system in the United Kingdom and its four constituent countries, England, Northern ...
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This chapter looks at health politics and the comprehensive, tax-funded (largely free at point of service) health system in the United Kingdom and its four constituent countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It traces the development of the UK’s healthcare system from an originally plural structure to a single National Health Service and then a devolved health policy structure. Though the NHS has continued to be highly popular and politically salient, the structure of care has substantially changed since 1948 as a result of reforms, with the growth of central government regulatory and managerial control, increasing competition in service delivery, more structured incentives for both GPs and hospitals, and a blurring of public and private boundaries in the provision of some outpatient care. As the chapter shows, the NHS’s devolution in 1999 has resulted in an increasingly diverging set of pathways across the four countries.Less
This chapter looks at health politics and the comprehensive, tax-funded (largely free at point of service) health system in the United Kingdom and its four constituent countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It traces the development of the UK’s healthcare system from an originally plural structure to a single National Health Service and then a devolved health policy structure. Though the NHS has continued to be highly popular and politically salient, the structure of care has substantially changed since 1948 as a result of reforms, with the growth of central government regulatory and managerial control, increasing competition in service delivery, more structured incentives for both GPs and hospitals, and a blurring of public and private boundaries in the provision of some outpatient care. As the chapter shows, the NHS’s devolution in 1999 has resulted in an increasingly diverging set of pathways across the four countries.
Alondra Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816676484
- eISBN:
- 9781452948164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676484.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter summarizes the scope of the Black Panther Party’s activism, considering its influence on how health inequality is historicized and theorized. It talks about the Black Panther’s health ...
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This chapter summarizes the scope of the Black Panther Party’s activism, considering its influence on how health inequality is historicized and theorized. It talks about the Black Panther’s health politics that emphasized the demands for healthcare access and liberation from “medical apartheid”, and describes how the Black Panther and their allies struggled to remedy the lack of access to medical services for members of marginalized groups by supplying basic preventive care at the People’s Free Medical Clinics (PFMC). The chapter concludes with a discussion of Black Panther’s health politics that suggests why today some African Americans still hold a complex and critical perspective that recognizes the particular vulnerability of blacks as patients and research subjects.Less
This chapter summarizes the scope of the Black Panther Party’s activism, considering its influence on how health inequality is historicized and theorized. It talks about the Black Panther’s health politics that emphasized the demands for healthcare access and liberation from “medical apartheid”, and describes how the Black Panther and their allies struggled to remedy the lack of access to medical services for members of marginalized groups by supplying basic preventive care at the People’s Free Medical Clinics (PFMC). The chapter concludes with a discussion of Black Panther’s health politics that suggests why today some African Americans still hold a complex and critical perspective that recognizes the particular vulnerability of blacks as patients and research subjects.
Rachel Kahn Best
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190918408
- eISBN:
- 9780190918446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190918408.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Focusing on diseases shapes the types of goals advocacy organizations pursue and the types of laws Congress passes. Over time, the pressure to adopt goals that fit neatly within disease categories, ...
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Focusing on diseases shapes the types of goals advocacy organizations pursue and the types of laws Congress passes. Over time, the pressure to adopt goals that fit neatly within disease categories, corporate influence, and the strategic avoidance of controversy encouraged disease advocates to prioritize awareness and research over prevention and access to treatment. This creates a health policy portfolio that subsidizes corporate interests, ignores collective risks, fails to challenge inequalities, and may actually make people less healthy by encouraging overtreatment. Yet while only a small proportion of organizations focus on prevention and treatment access, the phenomenal growth of disease advocacy means that large numbers of organizations continue to pursue the latter goals. Narrow goals outnumber broader goals but do not displace them.Less
Focusing on diseases shapes the types of goals advocacy organizations pursue and the types of laws Congress passes. Over time, the pressure to adopt goals that fit neatly within disease categories, corporate influence, and the strategic avoidance of controversy encouraged disease advocates to prioritize awareness and research over prevention and access to treatment. This creates a health policy portfolio that subsidizes corporate interests, ignores collective risks, fails to challenge inequalities, and may actually make people less healthy by encouraging overtreatment. Yet while only a small proportion of organizations focus on prevention and treatment access, the phenomenal growth of disease advocacy means that large numbers of organizations continue to pursue the latter goals. Narrow goals outnumber broader goals but do not displace them.
Maria Asensio
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198860525
- eISBN:
- 9780191892561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the health system in Portugal, characterized by overlapping tiers of coverage including a national health service. The chapter traces the ...
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This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the health system in Portugal, characterized by overlapping tiers of coverage including a national health service. The chapter traces the historical development of the Portuguese healthcare system through a series of regime changes, particularly the transition from conservative dictatorship to democracy beginning in 1974. Since the 1979 foundation of the National Health Service, the main issues facing the health system have been the relationship between public and private provision of services and the system’s fiscal solvency. A 1989 constitutional revision, which redefined healthcare from being a constitutional right to universal free healthcare to one which “tended towards” no cost at the time of treatment and was based on individuals’ particular social and economic situation, shifted the system away from universalism, removed obstacles to privatization, and allowed the introduction of other forms of market mechanisms. As the chapter argues, though left and right political parties have differed in their approaches, actors in health politics seem to have largely agreed to move in the direction of a public–private mix of service providers.Less
This chapter provides an extended look at health politics and the health system in Portugal, characterized by overlapping tiers of coverage including a national health service. The chapter traces the historical development of the Portuguese healthcare system through a series of regime changes, particularly the transition from conservative dictatorship to democracy beginning in 1974. Since the 1979 foundation of the National Health Service, the main issues facing the health system have been the relationship between public and private provision of services and the system’s fiscal solvency. A 1989 constitutional revision, which redefined healthcare from being a constitutional right to universal free healthcare to one which “tended towards” no cost at the time of treatment and was based on individuals’ particular social and economic situation, shifted the system away from universalism, removed obstacles to privatization, and allowed the introduction of other forms of market mechanisms. As the chapter argues, though left and right political parties have differed in their approaches, actors in health politics seem to have largely agreed to move in the direction of a public–private mix of service providers.
Rachel Kahn Best
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190918408
- eISBN:
- 9780190918446
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190918408.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Americans come together to fight diseases. For over 100 years, they have asked their neighbors to contribute to disease campaigns and supported health policies that target one disease at a time. ...
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Americans come together to fight diseases. For over 100 years, they have asked their neighbors to contribute to disease campaigns and supported health policies that target one disease at a time. Common Enemies asks why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes how Americans distribute charitable dollars, prioritize policies, and promote health. Drawing on the first comprehensive data on thousands of organizations targeting hundreds of diseases over decades, the author shows that disease campaigns proliferate due to the perception of health as a universal goal, the appeal of narrowly targeted campaigns, and the strategic avoidance of controversy. They funnel vast sums of money and attention to a few favored diseases, and they prioritize awareness campaigns and medical research over preventing disease and ensuring access to healthcare. It’s easy to imagine more efficient ways to promote collective well-being. Yet the same forces that limit the potential of individual disease campaigns to improve health also stimulate the vast outpouring of money and attention. Rather than displacing attention to other problems, disease campaigns build up the capacity to address them.Less
Americans come together to fight diseases. For over 100 years, they have asked their neighbors to contribute to disease campaigns and supported health policies that target one disease at a time. Common Enemies asks why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes how Americans distribute charitable dollars, prioritize policies, and promote health. Drawing on the first comprehensive data on thousands of organizations targeting hundreds of diseases over decades, the author shows that disease campaigns proliferate due to the perception of health as a universal goal, the appeal of narrowly targeted campaigns, and the strategic avoidance of controversy. They funnel vast sums of money and attention to a few favored diseases, and they prioritize awareness campaigns and medical research over preventing disease and ensuring access to healthcare. It’s easy to imagine more efficient ways to promote collective well-being. Yet the same forces that limit the potential of individual disease campaigns to improve health also stimulate the vast outpouring of money and attention. Rather than displacing attention to other problems, disease campaigns build up the capacity to address them.
Ilias Kyriopoulos and Elias Mossialos
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198860525
- eISBN:
- 9780191892561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0016
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the health system in Greece. It traces the development of the Greek healthcare system, characterized by an historical inability to ...
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This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the health system in Greece. It traces the development of the Greek healthcare system, characterized by an historical inability to implement significant reform, despite ambitious ideas. The chapter outlines the politics behind several reform attempts, among them the creation in the 1980s of the national health service, key elements of which were never implemented, and more recent efforts to establish a single purchaser of health services and a primary care network, both of which became law but were slow to take off. The chapter argues that the difficulty in undertaking reform can be explained by two elements that have historically influenced the policymaking process in Greece: electoral competition and the power of interest groups.Less
This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the health system in Greece. It traces the development of the Greek healthcare system, characterized by an historical inability to implement significant reform, despite ambitious ideas. The chapter outlines the politics behind several reform attempts, among them the creation in the 1980s of the national health service, key elements of which were never implemented, and more recent efforts to establish a single purchaser of health services and a primary care network, both of which became law but were slow to take off. The chapter argues that the difficulty in undertaking reform can be explained by two elements that have historically influenced the policymaking process in Greece: electoral competition and the power of interest groups.
Franca Maino and Federico Razetti
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198860525
- eISBN:
- 9780191892561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860525.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the decentralized, tax-financed health system in Italy. It traces the development of the Italian healthcare system, including the processes ...
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This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the decentralized, tax-financed health system in Italy. It traces the development of the Italian healthcare system, including the processes leading to hospital reform and regionalization in the 1960s and 1970s and the creation of the national health service in 1978. Since the late 1980s, health policy has been shaped by the transformation of the Italian political system, further transfer of powers to the regions, and public expenditure constraints due to public debt. Policies inspired by the New Public Management approach that aimed to increase the health system’s cost-effectiveness through steps towards fiscal federalism were introduced and reversed. Over the course of the 2000s, agreements between the central state and regional governments have become the main tool for coordinating health policy and trying to settle recurring disputes regarding health expenditure responsibilities. Ongoing debates on healthcare concern measures to ensure the national health service’s sustainability, typically the control and containment of its costs, and to reduce the territorial gap and other gaps that clash with the system’s universalist design.Less
This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the decentralized, tax-financed health system in Italy. It traces the development of the Italian healthcare system, including the processes leading to hospital reform and regionalization in the 1960s and 1970s and the creation of the national health service in 1978. Since the late 1980s, health policy has been shaped by the transformation of the Italian political system, further transfer of powers to the regions, and public expenditure constraints due to public debt. Policies inspired by the New Public Management approach that aimed to increase the health system’s cost-effectiveness through steps towards fiscal federalism were introduced and reversed. Over the course of the 2000s, agreements between the central state and regional governments have become the main tool for coordinating health policy and trying to settle recurring disputes regarding health expenditure responsibilities. Ongoing debates on healthcare concern measures to ensure the national health service’s sustainability, typically the control and containment of its costs, and to reduce the territorial gap and other gaps that clash with the system’s universalist design.
