Department of Health Studies

Race, Capital and the Financialization of Health Politics

Colleen Grogan and Guian McKee will explain how the public has been intentionally misled about the true role of government in U.S. health care. The U.S. government has always invested federal, state, and local dollars in public health protection and prevention. Despite this public funding, however, Americans typically believe the current system is predominantly comprised of private actors with little government interference. As both authors reveal, the U.S. has never had a system that resembles a competitive, free-market model. So, before sweeping reform can ever fix America’s broken health care system, we must have an honest discussion about the significant public investment buoying the private sector. This panel also focuses on urban hospitals and academic medical centers. The country’s high level of health care spending has allowed such institutions to become vital, if often problematic, economic anchors for communities. Yet this spending has constrained possibilities for comprehensive health care reform over many decades, even after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. And the role of hospitals in urban renewal, in community health provision, and as employers of low-wage workers has contributed directly to racial health disparities.

Sponsored by the Department of Health Studies,The Department of Political Science, the Africana Studies Program, and the Business School.