This book represents the first comparative study of how health policy is made in leading industrial nations. Using detailed case histories of the UK, the US and Germany, it shows that health care systems and modern states are indissolubly bound together. The author explains how the health care state originated before the rise of democracy, and demonstrates that it has had to confront the twin pressures of democratic politics and competitive capitalism. It focuses on three important arenas of health care politics--the government of consumption, the government of doctors, and the government of medical technology--and illustrates how these three arenas intersect.