AIDS and the American Health Polity: The History and Prospects of a Crisis of Authority

In 1981, a profound crisis of authority was transforming the American health polity. Changing priorities between infectious and chronic diseases, communal and individual responsibilities for health, and comprehensive services and cost control created a fragmented health polity, leaderless and ill-equipped to address the AIDS epidemic. The American health polity may best serve the public interest when institutions within it do not accept fragmentation as the goal and the norm of health affairs.

Author(s): Daniel M. Fox

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Volume 64, Issue S1 (pages 7–33)
Published in 1986