This course is an overview of the health care system and an introduction to the market for health services. Student presentations on topics of particular interest form the core of the seminar-style offering. Topics that may be considered include: specific components of the Affordable Care Act, such as Accountable Care Organizations, health insurance exchanges, and including Supreme Court litigation of its constitutionality; personnel issues (e.g., licensure); financing issues (e.g., public and private health insurance); regulatory issues (e.g., varied regulatory legislation, antitrust, fraud, and abuse); comparison of market and regulatory responses; the roles of health maintenance organizations, specialty hospitals, and for-profit institutions in the health field; problems of cost containment; the value of human life; allocation of decision-making authority (e.g., Baby Doe); organ transplantation. Enrollment limited. [3]
