Can the United States learn from other health care systems? This is the question Francis D. Powell and Albert F. Wessen and their colleagues address in this new volume on comparative health care systems. Health Care Systems in Transition presents a framework for examining and comparing health care reform, as well as attempts in Germany, Canada, Sweden, and Great Britain to maximize their populations′ health through efforts involving such factors as access to care, cost containment, and national payment programs.

The editors begin by offering guidelines for comparing health care reforms, exploring the issues and components of health care reform and the kinds of challenges reform will continue to face in the United States. The next four sections examine health care and attempts at health care reform in Germany, Canada, Sweden, and Great Britain. The final section considers how structural differences in health care systems may impact efforts at reform and how national reform measures in the countries studied might be reflected in regional and state programs in the United States.

Health Care Systems in Transition will prove invaluable reading for scholars, administrators, and students in health care policy, public health, health services administration and research, public administration, and political science.