1st Edition

Medicare Politics Exploring the Roles of Media Coverage, Political Information, and Political Participation

By Felicia E. Mebane Copyright 2001
    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Medicare Politics examines how media coverage, political information, and political participation affect Medicare policy choices. This book is an excellent reference for political science literature concerning the impact of media, the roles of political information with respect to public opinion, and political participation. Each chapter provides analysis that expands political science and health services research by testing political science questions in a way that further our understanding of a significant health policy program affected by the political process: Medicare. The introduction ties the chapters together and discusses the importance of understanding Medicare politics as the impending retirement of the baby boom generation forces policymakers to grapple with how Medicare will support future generations. The first chapter shows how Medicare coverage varied throughout the 1995 debates concerning Medicare reform and links coverage with public opinion about policymakers. The second chapter demonstrates how knowledge of the Medicare program affected the public's support for Medicare reform options in 1995. The final chapter examines the impact of the political participation and mobilization of Medicare beneficiaries in recent presidential elections. Medicare Politics ends with a discussion of implications for future Medicare reform debates.

    Chapter One: Media Coverage, Chapter Two: Political Knowledge, Chapter Three: Political Participation, Chapter Four: Conclusion.

    Biography

    Felicia E. Mebane

    "...Medicare Politics tackles an important issue from various communication and political science perspectives." -- International Journal of Public Opinion Research, January 2002