Established as a peer-reviewed quarterly journal in 1981, the journal’s primary focus is on domestic health care, but international developments are covered as well.
Health Affairs is divided into the following major sections:
- Feature articles: New proposals, original research, and analysis of broad health policy issues that are of current concern or interest
- Commentary
- Interviews: The Health Affairs staff engages a variety of persons, including government and private-sector leaders, in conversation
- Narrative Matters: Policy-relevant reflections based on personal encounters with the health care system, from the perspective of patient or provider
- Health Tracking: Reports of trends and explorations of health care markets, with an emphasis on issues that are of interest to private-sector readers
- DataWatch: Data-oriented papers, usually exploring a specific issue or policy question
- GrantWatch: A review of recently awarded grants and grant outcomes, with regular essays or special reports by and about philanthropists
- UpDate: News from the states or other countries, plus abstracts of important new publications
- Book Reviews
- Letters to the Editor: Abbreviated but lively discussion of issues raised in Health Affairs papers