American Health Politics and Policies

3.0 credits

This course examines the formation and evolution of American health policy from a political and historical perspective. Concentrating primarily on developments from 1932 to the present, the focus of readings and seminar discussions will be political forces and institutions and historical and cultural contexts. Among the topics covered are efforts to rationalize and regionalize health care institutions, periodic campaigns for national health insurance, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid and the further evolution of these programs, the rise to dominance of economists and economic analysis in the shaping of health policy, incremental and state-based vs. universal and federal initiatives, the formation and failure of the Clinton administrations health reform agenda, and attempts to achieve substantial national health reform during the Obama administration. The course is in seminar format and will expect active, well-prepared student participation.