PREVIOUS ARTICLE ALL CONTENTS Next ARTICLE

Making Social Welfare Policy in America: Three Case Studies Since 1950, Edward D. Berkowitz

Reviewed by Leslie K. Finger

BUY

 

In recent years, “Medicare for All” has become a rallying cry for the progressive left. Proposed and advocated most visibly by Senator Bernie Sanders, the program would establish a national government health care system, moving the U.S. away from its current employer-based health insurance system. However, this proposal, Edward Berkowitz reminds us in Making Social Welfare Policy in America, glosses over the administrative design and complex evolution of Medicare. Medicare has, since its inception, relied on private insurers and health care providers to administer the program, and over time, it has increased its use of market mechanisms through the addition of new plan options and competition. The program bears little resemblance to the government-administered vision proposed by Sanders and others.

Using the cases of Medicare, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Berkowitz explores the political dynamics and policy evolution of the modern American welfare state. Berkowitz, a historian, makes clear that he does not seek to formulate or test grand theories, but instead to engage with the complicated dynamics involved in the policymaking process for each of these important policies.

He document

To continue reading, see options above.

More by This Author

Firepower: How the NRA Turned Gun Owners into a Political Force, Matthew J. Lacombe Reviewed by Leslie K. Finger

About PSQ's Editor

ROBERT Y. SHAPIRO

Full Access

Join the Academy of Political Science and automatically receive Political Science Quarterly.

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

Academy Forum | The Transatlantic Relationship and the Russia-Ukraine War
January 9, 2025
4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. ET
WEBINAR

MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT VIEW ALL EVENTS

Editor’s spotlight

Virtual Issue

Introduction: Black Power and the Civil Rights Agendas of Charles V. Hamilton
Marylena Mantas and Robert Y. Shapiro

MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC

Search the Archives

Publishing since 1886, PSQ is the most widely read and accessible scholarly journal with distinguished contributors such as: Lisa Anderson, Robert A. Dahl, Samuel P. Huntington, Robert Jervis, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Theda Skocpol, Woodrow Wilson

view additional issues

Most read

Articles | Book reviews

Understanding the Bush Doctrine
Robert Jervis

The Study of Administration
Woodrow Wilson

Notes on Roosevelt's "Quarantine" Speech
Dorothy Borg

view all

New APS Book

Political Conflict in American Politics   POLITICAL CONFLICT IN AMERICAN POLITICS

About US

Academy of Political Science

The Academy of Political Science, promotes objective, scholarly analyses of political, social, and economic issues. Through its conferences and publications APS provides analysis and insight into both domestic and foreign policy issues.

Political Science Quarterly

With neither an ideological nor a partisan bias, PSQ looks at facts and analyzes data objectively to help readers understand what is really going on in national and world affairs.

Stay Connected

newsstand locator
About APS