Call for Book Chapters: “The Politics of Health”

Vernon Press invites book chapters for a forthcoming edited volume on the subject of “The Politics of Health.”

The American health care system has been politicized since the FDA was created in 1938 during the Franklin Roosevelt administration to protect public health. Since then, both state and federal politics have played a major role in the availability and quality of health care. This has ranged from Medicare and Medicaid to the Clintons’ failed attempt to better serve the “underserved” to the Affordable Care Act (with all the attempts to repeal it). Various government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency, are also concerned with public health. State governments also directly shape the health of its citizens, whether in expanding or refusing to expand Medicaid, food stamp eligibility, school lunch programs and elder care. The entire American health care system was tested during the COVID pandemic, including but not limited to, lost of respect for the CDC and NIH, wearing masks and school and business closures, the stress placed on hospitals and health care professionals, and the race for a vaccine that was challenged by anti-vaxxers. International submissions dealing with politics and health also will be considered.

This volume welcomes chapters considering various ways state and federal governments have politicized health care? Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Challenges to federal government agencies, such as the CDC and FDA, to the possible determent to public health.
• Challenges to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) from Congress or states.
• The EPA and its role in protecting public health and recent challenges to the Clean Water Act.
• Conceptual Metaphor Theory in the production, reception or critique of works of art
• Challenges to “entitlement” programs that have driven Republicans and Democrats further apart.
• Challenges to children’s health (which could include gun safety issues)
• Eldercare issues, such as home health availability, physicians who no longer accept Medicare or Medicaid patients.
• Abortion restrictions affect on physicians

Chapter proposal submission
Please submit an abstract no longer than 500 words to Dr. Judith Sylvester (volume editor) at jsylves@lsu.edu by September 15, 2023. Additionally, please include a short biography (max. 300 words). APA style will be used for the final submissions.

The proposed deadlines are as follows:
Deadline for abstracts submission: September 15, 2023
Acceptance of abstracts: Oct. 1, 2023 or within three days of submission
Full chapter submission:  November 15, 2023