Fall 2008 Course Description
Politics and Process
| Section Title: |
Health Polkicy and the Executive Branch |
| Instructor(s): |
Jeanne Lambrew |
| Course: |
P A 383C - Politics and Process
(previously Policy Development) |
| Unique Number: |
64715 |
| Day & Time: |
Mondays, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM |
| Room: |
SRH 3.103 |
| Waitlist Information: | For LBJ Students: UT Waitlist Information
For Non LBJ Students: LBJ School Waitlist Instructions |
This course fulfills requirements for the following specialization(s):
- Social and Economic Policy
- Public Management and Leadership
Description: The course examines the role of the executive branch in policy making through the lens of health policy. Health policy crosses a number of domains, touching on economics, science, organizational behavior, and societal values, among others. Its public cost has made it a major budget issue; the projected increases in Medicare and Medicaid spending alone account for the entire long-run deficit. At the state level, health spending is secondary only to education spending in its size. And, health policy affects everyone’s lives: from how we are born (e.g., “drive through deliveries”) to how we die (e.g., physician-assisted suicide); from whether there is access to needed therapies to whether there are incentives to develop those therapies in the first place.
Through health policy, the course aims to provide insight into the unique policy role of the federal executive branch. It examines the structure and powers of the executive branch, the process for decision making, and the roles of the different actors (e.g., agency heads, budget analyst, etc). It provides an overview of the health system and the major federal programs. It also uses three cases – passage and reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the disposition of the FY 2009 discretionary budget on health, and the health policy agenda of the next president of the United States – to explore governance of mandatory and discretionary programs and presidential initiatives. Students can expect to gain knowledge of the substance of policy making health policy as well as writing, presentation, and basic analytic skills.
Return to Fall 2008 Course Schedule
