Sultz (social and preventive medicine, State U. of New York at Buffalo) and Young (public health and health professions, State U. of New York at Buffalo and Canisius College) offer students of health administration, public health, medicine, and related fields an introduction to the US healthcare system and the various forces that have shaped it. From a public health and population perspective, they review the evolution of modern health care, its organization and delivery, and issues that face the system today, including financing, long-term care, mental health services, and the role of government. Topics like epidemiology, the history of medicine, program planning and evaluation, and quality of care are not discussed. This edition has been revised to reflect recent developments, including recent healthcare reform, with revised data, materials, and analysis, and discussion of the effects of the recession on hospital finances, the future of the system, the influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies, responses to the swine flu epidemic, efforts to computerize records, the patient-centered medical home, legislative activity in specific states, and other new material. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)