This AJN award-winning textbook helps readers understand and critically assess the US health care system and policies.

This AJN award-winning textbook helps readers understand and critically assess the US health care system and policies. With a focus on the prevalence of disparities in health and health care, the book reviews the historical evolution and organization of our health care system. Several social justice theories are used to critically evaluate current US Healthcare systems and policies, providing readers with various perspectives of the field. Extensive coverage of our health care system's structures, finances, and performance on a variety of population health indicators provides the necessary background, frameworks, and principles through which the adequacy of alternative health care system financing strategies can be analyzed.

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This book is an ideal text for graduate courses in health care policy or disparities or the US health care system in schools of social work, public health, nursing, medicine, and public policy and administration.