Home > Academic Courses and Programs > Spring Break Seminars> Healthcare Seminar
THEO 33951 / CSC 33951
Immersion Dates: Saturday, March 6 – Sunday, March 14, 2010
Cost: $265 and $75 — $100 for DC expenses
Size: 12 students
Application: Apply online (date TBD)
Application Deadline: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 11:59 p.m.
Seminar Director: Cynthia Toms Smedley
Seminar Assistant: Mary Juckett
Course Overview
As American citizens have begun calling for changes to our deteriorating health care system, politicians have responded by making health care reform a major issue in the upcoming elections. As voters, we have a responsibility to evaluate our current system as well as the various proposals to reform it. Furthermore, the Catholic Social Tradition invites persons of good will to pursue a health care system that raises the dignity of each person. This seminar invites you to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of our health care system, explore the possibilities for the future of American health care, and ask how modifications might help create the society we hope to become.
A survey of our current system will include an evaluation of: employer based healthcare (historical and current), causes and consequences of being uninsured, public safety nets (Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and community health clinics), under served populations (working poor, children, minorities, immigrants), factors driving up costs (technologies, overuse, emergency care, lack of
prevention & public health).
Additional examination will be paid to the following fundamental questions both in the pre-immersion classes and during site visits to various healthcare organizations and government agencies in Washington, DC:
Should healthcare be guaranteed? What services should be included?
Is it a human right? Who should and/or deserves be covered?
Whose priorities are most important (patient, physician, hospital, insurance company, research and development)?
What are the most effective proposals for managing health care costs and needs?
What role should the Catholic Church play in advocating for institutional and policy positions that place human dignity at the center of the discussion?
We hope you will join us as we learn about and discuss the future of American health care.
