Introduction to the United States Health Care System

Catalog description

Overview of key health policy issues in the United States. Topics include: (1) sources of morbidity and mortality; (2) access to health care; (3) financing of health care including an overview of how health insurance works, Medicare and Medicaid and why there are uninsured persons and to what effect; (4) health care quality; (5) end-of-life issues and care in advanced stage illness; (6) the role of non-profit versus for-profit ownership of health care facilities and to what effect; (8) long term care and care-giving issues; and (9) the impact of social phenomenon such as income inequality, social class and culture on health care.