This course examines the efforts of employers, as purchasers of health care, to shape the delivery, cost, and quality of health care. It describes the origins of job-based health insurance in the United States, how is insurance linked to American culture and tradition (is it an accident or natural to our political/economic ethos), how insurance works in health care, the ways in which health care realities can conflict with the requirements of traditional insurance, the employer-sponsored “consumer-driven” health plans that reduce first-dollar coverage and thereby attempt to make patients more cost conscious in their health care use, and efforts by employers to induce hospitals, doctors, and other caregivers to improve quality and safety while containing costs.

Note that this information may change at any time. Please visit the Student Link for the most up-to-date course information.