“Clearly, no one can claim to understand contemporary American politics and policymaking without understanding the Medicare program. Few scholars are more knowledgeable about Medicare politics than health policy expert Jonathan Oberlander. Combining rich, detailed narrative with acute political analysis, Oberlander offers an illuminating guide to Medicare’s evolution since the program’s creation in 1965. The book immediately takes its place as the best short monograph on Medicare’s political development, current status, and future prospects. . . . Well-organized, elegantly written, and jam-packed with sophisticated insights about the substance and process of U.S, policymaking, the book deserves to be read by anyone concerned with American national government, health-care politics, and the welfare state.”
— Eric M. Patashnik, Perspectives on Politics