ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses policy implications from a trajectory model. It suggests some that call for a radical shift of focus, organization, and resource flow in the health care system. The American health care system is, in effect, mainly in the business of funding and providing acute care; the bulk of illness management at home concerns other phases of illness, which constitute most of the ill person’s life. Practitioners at health facilities are skilled at managing illnesses when they are acute. They are skilled too at bringing about stability when someone is acutely ill, and at suggesting to the patient the best methods for increasing the probability of remaining stable. Another prominent issue debated in the health arena is that of equity, or equal opportunity for access to health care services. Advocacy of equity is deeply rooted in a humanitarian reform tradition that goes back many decades.
