ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and an account of recent political and policy developments that will help the reader to interpret these events, evaluate the process and some of its outcomes, and acquire a sense of how to proceed independently to learn more or do more about these programs. It provides a comprehensive account of implementation, which includes both rule-making and program design as well as later experience with some of the most important statutory provisions. Medicare and Medicaid politics have seldom been dramatic. In Medicare and Medicaid politics since 1994, four elements or constituents seem to be most important: commitment to a long-term strategy; enforcing party discipline; combining tax cuts and budget reduction; and employing a campaign mode of legislation.
