In this book, the author shows that in the American political context, health care is neither exclusively a public right nor a private privilege. He provides students with an excellent demonstration of how public policy intersects with private markets.

With the demise of the Clinton health care reform plan, the debate on health care changed but did not subside. From opinion pieces in newspapers to dinner-table conversations, the debate over whether the right to quality health care is a public right, akin to educating our children, or whether it is a private one, akin to life insurance, continues. In The Accidental System Michael Reagan shows that in the American political context, health care is neither exclusively a public right nor a private privilege. This insightful policy study provides students with an excellent demonstration of how public policy intersects with private markets.