This course focuses on a selected set of the major health policy issues and uses economics to uncover and better understand the issues. The course examines the scope for government intervention in health markets.

This course provides an overview of the United States healthcare system using a microeconomics lens. You will first learn microeconomics fundamentals, enabling you to answer several questions, such as why the United States spends so much on healthcare, yet has poor health outcomes. The course will describe situations in which the free market works well in healthcare, along with when it doesn't. You will learn about the government's roles in healthcare, including government successes and government failures. The course will examine tradeoffs among healthcare affordability, quality, access, choice, and innovation--can we have it all? Lastly, it will answer why vast health inequities exist among the US population, including answering how health equity can be improved.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills