As health has been made both more effective and expensive by medical advances, it has raised political concerns in terms of how to sustain such improvements and, at the same time, guarantee access to them by the patient citizen (PC). Concerns about the sustainability of increasing health expenditures through time are at a trade-off with the expansions in the quality and quantity of life, which, especially in wealthy societies, are much more valued than expansions in consumption and income. In this chapter, we look at how three standard models (electoral models, power dominance and lobbying) have been theoretically introduced and empirically tested in the field of health innovation. We argue that innovations in health are subject to increasing political scrutiny by the PC, and this can give rise to dramatic changes in the political incentives of voters, interest groups and branches of government.