Medicare Matters : University of California Press : 9780520251564 : 0520251563 : 13 Mar 2007 : Assesses the current state and the future prospects of Medicare, perhaps the most influential health care program of our time. Author Cassel draws upon the latest developments in science and medicine in an analysis of Medicare's social, demographic, institutional, political, and policy contexts. Writing in accessible language, using case studies to illustrate how policies translate to everyday lives, and applying lessons from the practice of geriatric medicine, Cassel makes a powerful argument for reforming and modernizing Medicare. Anchoring her discussion of Medicare in the idea that care for the elderly represents a social contract between government and its citizens, Cassel describes both the principles and potential of a progressive approach to geriatric medicine. She offers a vision of what healthy aging could be and delineates what is needed to reach this vision, including changes in t