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Papers by Christy Ford Chapin

Business History of Hospitals in the 20th Century; Paloma Fernández Pérez (ed.), 2024

This chapter argues that U.S. hospitals have used accounting in a distinctive, paradoxical manner... more This chapter argues that U.S. hospitals have used accounting in a distinctive, paradoxical manner to secure generous reimbursements and favorable regulatory terms from third-party financiers, both public and private. By presenting inexact, unreliable cost calculations as “objective” accounting products, hospital leaders could more readily inflate treatment prices, charge patients widely divergent rates, and conceal internal operations from third-party payers seeking data to design efficacious cost containment methods.

The Journal of American History, Mar 1, 2015

Ensuring America's Health explains why the U.S. health care system offers world-class medical ser... more Ensuring America's Health explains why the U.S. health care system offers world-class medical services to some patients but is also exceedingly costly, with fragmented care, poor distribution, and increasingly bureaucratized processes. Based on exhaustive historical research, this work traces how public and private power merged to favor a distinctive economic model that places insurance companies at the center of the system, where they both finance and oversee medical care. Although the insurance company model was created during the 1930s, it continues to drive health care cost and quality problems today. This wide-ranging work not only evaluates the overarching political and economic framework of the medical system but also provides rich narrative detail, examining the political dramas, corporate maneuverings, and forceful personalities that created American health care as we know it. This book breaks new ground in the fields of health care history, organizational studies, and American political economy.

Oxford Handbook of American Political History, Apr 2, 2020

This article reviews the history of the U.S. health care system and important themes in the schol... more This article reviews the history of the U.S. health care system and important themes in the scholarly literature pertaining to the subject. It argues that understanding the politics of health care, including the structure of government programs such as Medicare, requires careful attention to the private sector's economic framework. This essay traces the development of modern medicine, health care systems in the 20th century, private health insurance, and federal and state health care policy.

United States Financial History, 2021

The history of US finance—spanning from the republic’s founding through the 2007–2008 financial c... more The history of US finance—spanning from the republic’s founding through the 2007–2008 financial crisis—exhibits two primary themes. The first theme is that Americans have frequently expressed suspicion of financiers and bankers. This abiding distrust has generated ferocious political debates through which voters either have opposed government policies that empower financial interests or have advocated proposals to steer financial institutions toward serving the public. A second, related theme that emerges from this history is that government policy—both state and federal—has shaped and reshaped financial markets. This feature follows the pattern of American capitalism, which rather than appearing as laissez-faire market competition, instead materializes as interactions between government and private enterprise structuring each economic sector in a distinctive manner. International comparison illustrates this premise. Because state and federal policies produced a highly splintered co...

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Studies in American Political Development

Peter Swenson's excellent article is a welcome correction to the consensus argument so often ... more Peter Swenson's excellent article is a welcome correction to the consensus argument so often found in welfare state literature. That interpretation depicts a never-ending, dualistic struggle between capitalists and “the people,” as represented by welfare reformers. Swenson sorts through the evidence surrounding post-1960 health care debates, particularly Medicare, to demonstrate that “business” is not a fixed, homogeneous group that conforms neatly to class-based analysis. He finds significant business backing for federal programming and also shows that where trade associations took conservative, anti-reform stands, they often did so without strong member support.

Journal of Policy History, 2012

Journal of Policy History, 2012

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important subject among business leaders during t... more Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important subject among business leaders during the post–World War II era. Business leaders often used the idea of CSR to explain actions they took to prevent additional government involvement in their industry. They argued that because they were behaving in a socially responsible manner, further federal programming was unnecessary. The cases of health insurance and home mortgages demonstrate how this political approach frequently required business leaders to alter their profitmaking strategies in order to substantiate their argument before the public. Thus, the history of corporate social responsibility is critical for understanding a hidden facet of American political development.

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

Business History of Hospitals in the 20th Century; Paloma Fernández Pérez (ed.), 2024

This chapter argues that U.S. hospitals have used accounting in a distinctive, paradoxical manner... more This chapter argues that U.S. hospitals have used accounting in a distinctive, paradoxical manner to secure generous reimbursements and favorable regulatory terms from third-party financiers, both public and private. By presenting inexact, unreliable cost calculations as “objective” accounting products, hospital leaders could more readily inflate treatment prices, charge patients widely divergent rates, and conceal internal operations from third-party payers seeking data to design efficacious cost containment methods.

The Journal of American History, Mar 1, 2015

Ensuring America's Health explains why the U.S. health care system offers world-class medical ser... more Ensuring America's Health explains why the U.S. health care system offers world-class medical services to some patients but is also exceedingly costly, with fragmented care, poor distribution, and increasingly bureaucratized processes. Based on exhaustive historical research, this work traces how public and private power merged to favor a distinctive economic model that places insurance companies at the center of the system, where they both finance and oversee medical care. Although the insurance company model was created during the 1930s, it continues to drive health care cost and quality problems today. This wide-ranging work not only evaluates the overarching political and economic framework of the medical system but also provides rich narrative detail, examining the political dramas, corporate maneuverings, and forceful personalities that created American health care as we know it. This book breaks new ground in the fields of health care history, organizational studies, and American political economy.

Oxford Handbook of American Political History, Apr 2, 2020

This article reviews the history of the U.S. health care system and important themes in the schol... more This article reviews the history of the U.S. health care system and important themes in the scholarly literature pertaining to the subject. It argues that understanding the politics of health care, including the structure of government programs such as Medicare, requires careful attention to the private sector's economic framework. This essay traces the development of modern medicine, health care systems in the 20th century, private health insurance, and federal and state health care policy.

United States Financial History, 2021

The history of US finance—spanning from the republic’s founding through the 2007–2008 financial c... more The history of US finance—spanning from the republic’s founding through the 2007–2008 financial crisis—exhibits two primary themes. The first theme is that Americans have frequently expressed suspicion of financiers and bankers. This abiding distrust has generated ferocious political debates through which voters either have opposed government policies that empower financial interests or have advocated proposals to steer financial institutions toward serving the public. A second, related theme that emerges from this history is that government policy—both state and federal—has shaped and reshaped financial markets. This feature follows the pattern of American capitalism, which rather than appearing as laissez-faire market competition, instead materializes as interactions between government and private enterprise structuring each economic sector in a distinctive manner. International comparison illustrates this premise. Because state and federal policies produced a highly splintered co...

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Studies in American Political Development

Peter Swenson's excellent article is a welcome correction to the consensus argument so often ... more Peter Swenson's excellent article is a welcome correction to the consensus argument so often found in welfare state literature. That interpretation depicts a never-ending, dualistic struggle between capitalists and “the people,” as represented by welfare reformers. Swenson sorts through the evidence surrounding post-1960 health care debates, particularly Medicare, to demonstrate that “business” is not a fixed, homogeneous group that conforms neatly to class-based analysis. He finds significant business backing for federal programming and also shows that where trade associations took conservative, anti-reform stands, they often did so without strong member support.

Journal of Policy History, 2012

Journal of Policy History, 2012

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important subject among business leaders during t... more Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important subject among business leaders during the post–World War II era. Business leaders often used the idea of CSR to explain actions they took to prevent additional government involvement in their industry. They argued that because they were behaving in a socially responsible manner, further federal programming was unnecessary. The cases of health insurance and home mortgages demonstrate how this political approach frequently required business leaders to alter their profitmaking strategies in order to substantiate their argument before the public. Thus, the history of corporate social responsibility is critical for understanding a hidden facet of American political development.

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000

The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System, 2000