TY - BOOK AU - Gray,Virginia AU - Benz,Jennifer K. AU - Lowery,David ED - Project Muse, ED - Project Muse. TI - Interest groups and health care reform across the United States T2 - American governance and public policy series SN - 9781589019904 AV - RA395.A3 G73 2013 U1 - 362.1/04250973 23 PY - 2013/// CY - Baltimore, Maryland PB - Project Muse KW - State Government KW - United States KW - Public Opinion KW - Politics KW - Health Policy KW - Federal Government KW - Health Care Reform KW - Pressure groups KW - Medical policy KW - Health care reform KW - Electronic books KW - Electronic books. KW - local N1 - Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE; Includes bibliographical references and index; Interest organizations and health reform in a federal context -- The theory and structure of health interest communities in the states -- State pharmacy assistance programs as innovations -- The politics of managing managed care -- Universal health care in the states -- Conclusion N2 - Universal health care was on the national political agenda for nearly a hundred years until a comprehensive (but not universal) health care reform bill supported by President Obama passed in 2010. The most common explanation for the failure of past reform efforts is that special interests were continually able to block reform by lobbying lawmakers. Yet, beginning in the 1970s, accelerating with the failure of the Clinton health care plan, and continuing through the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, health policy reform was alive and well at the state level. Interest Groups and Health Care Reform across the United States assesses the impact of interest groups to determine if collectively they are capable of shaping policy in their own interests or whether they influence policy only at the margins. What can this tell us about the true power of interest groups in this policy arena? The fact that state governments took action in health policy in spite of opposing interests, where the national government could not, offers a compelling puzzle that will be of special interest to scholars and students of public policy, health policy, and state politics UR - https://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781589019904/ ER -