Book excerpt: This book is about health care entitlements in the US-and about the threat of disentitlement. It describes the history and legal character of our Medicare and Medicaid programs, and of the tax subsidies that have brought health insurance to most working Americans. It examines the thread that our entitlements face from privatization, individualism, and devolution. It considers the models that other countries have developed for health care entitlements and what we can learn from them. The book concludes by proposing a redesigned entitlement-based health care system for the future.