"This new and expanded edition will be of value to students and lay readers alike in interpreting current debates about how to reform Medicare, and control rising healthcare costs. Reading a book written by Rice, one simultaneously learns a lot of economics and a great deal about healthcare institutions and policy."

—Henry J. Aaron, The Brookings Institute

" This book is one of the most accessible and international books written on health economics and the chapter role of government is fascinating. This book is a 'must read' for anyone interested in the functioning of health systems."

—Gavin Mooney, Professor of Health Economics, Curtin University, Australia

"In this new edition, Dr. Rice discusses lessons that could help us attack the problems that plague an inefficient and inequitable health system. His critical analysis enables readers to weigh the complexities of reform initiatives and understand the potential pitfalls of a system based purely on free market principles."

—Cynthia Saunders, PhD, Assistant Professor, California State University, Long Beach

"Dr. Rice offers a welcome challenge to the orthodoxy in this stimulating and insightful contribution to health economics literature. The in-depth international perspective in this new edition draws together the experiences of different health system models and will be of particular interest to policymakers concerned with the struggle to improve health system performance."

—Miriam M. Wiley, Head, Health Policy Institute, Ireland

"Dr. Rice shakes health economics out of its traditional smugness and asks hard questions about assumptions that have gone unchallenged for too long. This book offers a fresh approach at a point in time when health economics needs to be opened up and made timely. Thank goodness for the publication of the second edition of this book—just in time to inform the upcoming debate."

—Pauline Vaillancourt Rosenau, PhD, Professor, University of Texas