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Health Planning in the United States and the Decline of Public‐interest Policymaking
Author(s) -
MELHADO EVAN M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the milbank quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1468-0009
pISSN - 0887-378X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2006.00451.x
Subject(s) - public health , health policy , face (sociological concept) , progressive era , health care , politics , public interest , political science , theme (computing) , public administration , health care reform , public policy , economic growth , sociology , economics , medicine , social science , nursing , law , computer science , operating system
In the 1960s and 1970s, health planning formed a major theme of American health policy. Planners aimed to improve health services and make them broadly available while using resources efficiently. This article provides a history, both intellectual and political, of the origins of planning, its rise, and—in the face of mounting problems—its decline. The story also illustrates broader changes in the culture of policymaking in American health care. From the Progressive Era through the 1960s, reform‐minded experts in health worked to advance the public interest. Thereafter, they increasingly left behind public‐interest ideals and their underlying extramarket values in favor of organizing and improving health care markets. Whatever the deficiencies of traditional policymaking may be, this study suggests the need to resurrect extramarket values in health policy.