Health Care Policy and Practice

Book excerpt: In Health Care Policy and Practice: A Biopsychosocial Perspective, Moniz and Gorin have updated their text to incorporate health care reform. The authors have also restructured the book to guide students through the development of the American health care system: what it is, what the policies are, and how students can influence them. The first section focuses on recent history and reforms during the Obama Administration to describe the health care system; section two examines the system’s structure and policies; and the third section explores policy analysis and advocacy, and disparities in health based on demographics and inequities in access to care. It concludes with a discussion of the impact of social factors on health and health status. The new edition incorporates the CSWE EPAS competencies; it is for social work courses in health care, health care policy, and health and mental health care policy.