This course covers an issue central to modern day life –health care and the policy and politics around it. The course provides an introduction to the arcane but important terms and ideas surrounding healthcare provision and policy in the U.S. and offers an opportunity to critically analyze the policies for moving forward from politically and philosophically diverse perspectives. We will focus on the how health care is delivered and insured in this country and comparative policies abroad; health disparities by gender, race, class, family structure, and immigration; and the role of the individual, the market, and the government in health care, health insurance, and public health. The course will focus on the state and federal health legislation and implementation in real time, and the alternative proposals that have been developed by various groups.