Health care politics -- Health care policy in the united states -- Medicaid: health care for the poor -- Medicare: health care for the elderly and disabled -- Health care and the disadvantaged: falling through the cracks -- Health care cost containment -- Medical malpractice and medical liability -- Health care technology -- Reforming the system -- The triumph of incrementalism: from managed care to consumer-driven -- Conclusion: health care policy at the dawn of the twenty-first century