Health Politics Policy

2 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course seeks to examine core contemporary challenges facing the U.S. Health Care System through a lens that examines why these issues have proven so “hard” to address. The lens or analytical framework to be developed through collaborative discussion in this class seeks to integrate questions of health politics and policy. In turn, this course likewise seeks to unpackage what we mean by these terms “health politics” and “policy” with a focus on integrating across several inter-related areas involving questions of: - Politics to include governmental structure and stakeholder considerations - Process with a focus on how process impacts decisions and outcomes - Substance with an interdisciplinary focus on underlying policy issues - Financing and cost questions of how resources are raised, obtained, and allocated The structure of the course is designed to blend these considerations with a study of some of the more significant challenges facing the U.S. (and in many ways global) health care system today and looking forward over time.