The United States is the only industrialized nation that fails to assure universal access to basic health care. Nearly 39 million people — mostly adults and children in wage-earning families — lack health insurance. Nor does holding onto a job guarantee coverage. Seven of every 10 Americans depend on their employers for their insurance, but in today's tight economy employers are chipping away at benefits, compelling employees to pay more of the cost and even eliminating coverage entirely. Four health-care proposals are being considered in Congress, but all would provide only limited benefits. Critics of universal coverage say the nation can't afford to insure everyone. But health-care advocates say the nation's piecemeal approach to insurance doesn't keep Americans healthy — and costs more in the long run.

Lee Epstein is the Beatrice Kuhn Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University. She is coauthor of The Supreme Court and Legal Change: Abortion and the Death Penalty (1992) with Joseph Kobylka; Advice and Consent: The Politics of Judicial Appointments (2005) with Jeffrey A. Segal; The Supreme Court Compendium: Data, Decisions, and Developments, 4th ed. (2007) with Segal, Harold J. Spaeth, and Thomas G. Walker; and The Choices Justices Make (1998) with Jack Knight, which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award for the best book on law and courts. In addition, she is coauthor, with Walter F. Murphy and C. Herman Pritchett of Courts, Judges and Politics, 6th ed. (2006).