Health Affairs, 26, no. 5 (2007): 1303 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.5.1303 © 2007 by Project HOPE	New Online   Pay Cuts For Medicare Docs   Access To Care Woes   Public Coverage More Efficient   Empowering Consumers

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Health System

PROLOGUE

Vulnerable Populations And The Health System

The factors that contribute to the vulnerability of individuals and populations range from nonnegotiable genetic endowments to voluntary behavior to social, political, and economic arrangements that may or may not be amenable to deliberate intervention. Many of these factors lie beyond the realm of medicine, as David Mechanic’s keynote essay in this volume makes clear. Yet the consequences of vulnerability wash up regularly on the shores of the health system, where, as a result, the search for solutions usually begins. Whether vulnerability comes in the form of chronic illness, uninsurance, or socioeconomic disadvantage, it represents by definition the system’s most . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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