PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

Americans eat more, work more, and exercise less than the citizens of all other developed nations. As a result, the prevalence of chronic disease is higher in the U.S. than all European countries and U.S. health care costs are the highest in the world. The U.S. doesn't have a health care problem-it has a public health problem. "Health care" and "public health" have developed in silos despite the fact that both fields are fundamentally tied to one another. This course provides students with a framework to think systematically about the determinants of health, the problems linking public health and physician and hospital-based health care, and the strategies available to governments and policymakers for addressing these matters. The course emphasizes contemporary topics that are important in the health policy debates of virtually all nations and provides cross-national comparisons of public health and health care systems.