What Makes American Healthcare (Un)affordable?

RadioEd

Show Notes

University of Denver Sturm College of Law associate professor Govind Persad’s newest paper, “Defining Health Affordability,” looks into the phenomenon of how Americans avoid seeking healthcare because of the cost. The meat of his latest research, however, comes down to investigating why we don’t have a universal definition for the idea of healthcare affordability.

In this episode, Emma chats with Persad, who offers his own definition of health affordability and examines today’s American healthcare landscape.

Govind Persad’s research applies bioethical and distributive justice frameworks to law in order to address longstanding and new problems at the interface of health law and policy.

Persad’s current projects evaluate potential definitions of health affordability, consider how to integrate health justice and equity into frameworks for the allocation of scarce medical resources, and propose new frameworks for international pandemic response. His research has most recently been supported by a Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholars Award. He is participating in the Colorado National Wastewater Surveillance System Center of Excellence at DU and serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy.

More Information:

"Defining Health Affordability" by Govind Persad

“Sue Lowden Stands by Chicken Health Care Barter Plan” CBS News

“Pricing Drugs Fairly” by Govind Persad

“Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs” by Lunna Lopes, Marley Presiado and Liz Hamel