Diagnosis: Changes in mental health care over the past four decades have failed to live up to their promise, creating a fragmented and disorganized system that is scarcely more effective than the one it replaced.

Diagnosis: Long-term care threatens to bankrupt Medicaid and the states that pay for it. The best hope for a cure lies in cutting down on the need for institutional care.

Diagnosis: Nearly 44 million Americans lack health insurance. It's a serious and chronic problem for those who can't afford care and for both the private sector and the states, which are left picking up the tab.

Diagnosis: A little over a decade ago, Medicaid spent $5 billion a year on outpatient drugs. The tab is now an overwhelming $30 billion a year, with help from the new Medicare reform law an iffy proposition at best.

Diagnosis: Dramatic recent improvements in health care for poor children in America are being threatened by a new wave of cost-cutting in the states.