title: Ironies of success: a new history of the American health care "system".
abstract: The context for contemporary research and policy is set through a theoretically informed history of the modern American health care system that draws on the concept of countervailing powers and Fligstein's theory of control. In this context, the papers of this special issue are then introduced.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Donald W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Light
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends; D004465:Economic Competition; D006291:Health Policy; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011050:Policy Making; D011209:Power, Psychological; D014481:United States