Expanded and updated, this is a new edition of an essential look at the history, structure, successes, and problems of the US health care system.

The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world. Yet the health of our society and our access to care are worse than in nearly all other industrialized countries. In the latest edition of Introduction to US Health Policy, Donald A. Barr reviews the structure of the American health care system and explores the various organizations and institutions that make the US health care system work—or fail to work.

The book introduces readers to broad cultural issues surrounding health care policy—such as access, affordability, and quality—and specific elements of US health care, such as insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid. He scrutinizes the shift to for-profit care while analyzing the pharmaceutical industry, issues surrounding long-term care, the plight of the uninsured, and nursing shortages. This new edition features expanded and updated information on:

• The 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), its subsequent expansion of affordable health insurance for millions of Americans, and a timeline of Republican efforts to weaken or repeal it
• COVID-19's widespread impacts on the US health care system, including the expansion of telehealth services
• The differences between Medicaid and Medicare plans and changes to these services in the twenty-first century
• The latest congressional laws affecting US health care, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act, the No Surprises Act, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act

Drawing on an extensive range of resources, including government reports, scholarly publications, and analyses from a range of private organizations, Introduction to US Health Policy continues to provide scholars, policymakers, and health care providers with a comprehensive platform of ideas that is key to understanding and influencing changes in the US health care system.

Donald A. Barr, MD, PhD (PALO ALTO, CA), is professor emeritus at Stanford University in the Department of Pediatrics. He lives in Palo Alto, California. He is the author of Health Disparities in the United States: Social Class, Race, Ethnicity, and the Social Determinants of Health; Introduction to Biosocial Medicine: The Social, Psychological, and Biological Determinants of Human Behavior and Well-Being; and Crossing the American Health Care Chasm: Finding the Path to Bipartisan Collaboration in National Health Care Policy.