Comparative Health Care Systems Engineering Program Spring 2018 Semester - Early Start - Paris

The postulate that health care is a public concern is near universal: it is a priority and a source of concern worldwide at both individual and intergovernmental levels. From families seeking a primary health provider to the World Health Organization coordinating efforts to fight off the next epidemic (not to mention the local State reorganizing its model of universal health insurance) health systems affect all citizens in some way. Even the lack of a health care system is an issue that impacts not only the local citizen, but the region and the world. This course will thus begin by seeking to establish a common understanding of what defines a health care system and how this concept has evolved over time.

We then begin our comparative analysis of national health care systems. Regardless of their nature or cultural origins, they all face similar challenges with regard to quality, breadth, delivery and cost of service. Some States, such as France, have sought solutions in the single-provider insurance scheme. Others such as Great Britain and Canada fund doctors and hospitals directly in order to provide care. During this phase of the course, we will ascertain how States go about organizing their respective health care systems and, in doing so explore the history as well as politics and various financing mechanisms behind these systems.

This comparative approach sets the stage for analyzing health care systems on a cultural level: a nation's particular approach to health care is indeed one of the phenomena that we use when describing or evaluating the relationship between the State and its citizens. What is the nature of a health care system in the country; what issues shape the politics and polemics surrounding health care; are there public/private systems in place; what are their respective attributes or deficiencies; how does the public view the State's role in delivering health care? Investigating and responding to these issues engages you in a number of ethical and cultural questions that, when approached from an informed, multi-cultural and comparative perspective, help you develop both discipline-specific knowledge and intercultural competence.

*This course is cross listed as POL320