Book Reviews

Abstract

Nicole Maestas of Harvard Medical School reviews “Medicare and Medicaid at 50: America's Entitlement Programs in the Age of Affordable Care”, by Alan B. Cohen, David C. Colby, Keith A. Wailoo, and Julian E. Zelizer. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Eighteen papers present a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and their impact on society from their origins in the Great Society era to the age of the Affordable Care Act, addressing the relationship between the two programs. Papers discuss Medicare, Medicaid, and the moral test of government; the contentious origins of Medicare and Medicaid; civil rights and Medicare—historical convergence and continuing legacy; the early days of Medicare and Medicaid—a personal reflection; the road not taken—what happened to Medicare for all; the transformation of Medicaid from poor law legacy to middle-class entitlement; how the courts created the Medicaid entitlement; Medicaid and the social transformations of American elders; the third rail of politics—the rise and fall of Medicare's untouchability; Medicare innovations in the war over the key to the US Treasury; Medicaid rising—the perils and potential of federalism; independence and freedom—public opinion and the politics of Medicare and Medicaid; the era of big government—why it never ended; the missing piece—Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care; Medicare, cost control, and the future of American health care; Medicare in American political history—the rise and fall of social insurance; policy entrenchment and regret in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act; and the world that Medicare and Medicaid made. Cohen is Professor of Health Policy and Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business and Director of the National Program Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research and Scholars in Health Policy Research Programs. Colby is the former Vice President of Policy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Wailoo is Townsend Martin Professor of History and Public Affairs and Vice Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Zelizer is Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University.”