Healthy or Sick?: Coevolution of Health Care and Public Health in a Comparative Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Public Policy)

By: Philipp Trein

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Synopsis: The book analyses how policies to prevent diseases are related to policies aiming to cure illnesses. It does this by conducting a comparative historical analysis of Australia, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. It also demonstrates how the politicization of the medical profession contributes to the success of preventative health policy. The book argues that two factors lead to a close relationship of curative and preventative elements in health policies and institutions: a strong national government that possesses a wide range of control over subnational levels of government, and whether professional organizations (especially the medical profession) perceive preventative and non-medical health policy as important and campaign for it politically. The book provides a historical and comparative narrative to substantiate this claim empirically.