Health Policy

(Track Courses)

Few issues matter more to people than getting quality health care when they need it. And few issues pose a greater policy challenge than satisfying people's needs equitably and affordably. In the United States and around the world, policymakers struggle with critical questions: Why do some people get too little and some too much health care? How does health insurance promote or distort equity and efficiency in health care use? Are payments to providers, producers, and insurers helping or hindering social goals? Who pays how much for health care? Why and with what consequences?

GPPI's health policy students are trained to address these questions with courses that examine the incentives of the health care marketplace, the way policy strategies and politics influence that marketplace, and the inevitable conflicts and tradeoffs that arise in promoting better health policy. Nationally recognized health policy experts (based full-time at GPPI or its Health Policy Institute or drawn from Washington's rich health policy community) guide students through this process, sharing their extensive research knowledge and real world experience. Georgetown's Law Center, Kennedy Institute of Bioethics, and School of Nursing and Health Studies expand students opportunities to focus on legal, ethical, and international health policy issues. And students gain experience through internships in government, nonprofit, and industry organizations.

GPPI graduates apply their considerable skills in U.S. congressional offices, federal agencies (Health & Human Services, Office of Management and Budget, Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality), consulting firms (Booz Allen Hamilton, The Advisory Board, Accenture), advocacy groups (PhRMA, AARP, Families USA), research organizations (Mathematica Policy Research, Urban Institute, Brookings Institution), state organizations and agencies (National Conference of State Legislatures, California Legislative Analyst, DC government), foundations (Kaiser Family Foundation, Pew Trusts), and other nonprofit organizations (Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families).