Changing the U.S. Health Care System (3^rd edition) is a readable and accessible introduction to the major problems facing the health care system. It also poses solutions to these problems. The book emphasizes how  problems come to be recognized and defined, their characteristics and magnitude, and plans and programs to alleviate them. Students and faculty using this book, upon completion, will be able to (1) understand central objectives of the health care system to increase  access, limit costs, and improve quality and the interactions and tradeoffs involved in striving to attain these objectives; (2) be able to define vulnerable subgroups or target groups for the health care system and their specific characteristics and the most pressing needs and demands; and (3) recognize some generic approaches to system reform and formulate their own framework for an "ideal health care system" that can be used to assess ongoing system, institutional, and professional reforms.

The book is organized in five parts, covering ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE, COSTS OF HEALTH CARE, QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE, SPECIAL POPULATIONS, and DIRECTIONS FOR CHANGE (such as Medicare Reform, the Growth of Competition, and Ethical Issues).