HLEQ 440 Politics of Health and Healthcare Policy

This course explores the politics of health care policy making in the United States. In order to understand health care policy making in the U.S., the course will explore the history of health care policy making in the U.S., the philosophical underpinnings of the role of health in social and political relations, health luck, and health justice, and the economics of health care demand and health care supply. The course will also place the U.S. experience with health care in a comparative global context. The course will also explore the way power dynamics influence the way we think about, experience, and attempt to influence health care policy in the U.S. As such, the course will explore the factors that influence one’s health including social determinants such as education, geography, income, and race; access to health care; genetics; environmental factors; lifestyle factors; as well as the ways other public policies, such as transportation, welfare, and education, influence health.