PED 5650 - Health Care in America: Past, Present, and Future

This is an introductory class to the health care system. This course will be of particular relevance and utility to students in pre-medical, pre-law, business, public policy, political science, philosophy, and sociology programs. In the same way that a class on finance or accounting helps you design proper finance and accounting systems, the material for this class will help you understand, interact, and hopefully shape the health care system in the future. This course will also introduce you to a wide variety of academic and vocational opportunities and will be especially valuable for the highly accomplished, highly motivated student regardless of his/her future direction. This class will cover a variety of issues and topics within the context of the health care system. We will cover topics related to the underlying structural elements of the system, such as medical, legal, and business aspects of health care, and how these structural elements combine to affect people and institutions on a broader scale. The class is designed to provide a framework and a common vocabulary with which to interpret and understand the various components of our health care system and its implications for our broader society.