The ways and means of national health care reform, 1974 and beyond

Little attention has been paid in the health policy and welfare state liter ature to the politics of health care reform in the 1970s. Drawing on newspa per accounts and archival material collected from the Gerald R. Ford Presid ential Library and the National Archives, I outline the political history o f health care reform in the 93rd Congress. In doing so, I highlight critica l institutional, environmental, and strategic lessons that today's reformer s can learn from the experience of 1974.