Health Care Policy and the Affordable Care Act, an online course

I have joined coursera! (See http://www.coursera.org/ ) There was an article about it in the online NY Times yesterday—that I read today at my hemodialysis clinic: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/education/consortium-of-colleges-takes-online-education-to-new-level.html. Tom Friedman wrote about coursera on Sunday in his column: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/opinion/friedman-come-the-revolution.html

I signed up online at the clinic and started taking a course from the University of Pennsylvania titled "Health Care Policy and the Affordable Care Act" given by Professor Ezekial Emanuel, MD, PhD. (Note: I bring my laptop and my cellphone to the clinic. They have free wifi for us patients. I'm hooked up for four-and-a-half hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 6:30 to 11 AM, give or take 15 minutes getting started.)

And it is free! And this is an incredible resource for me to use at dialysis. I took this course first because I have been asked to write an "article" about a healthcare delivery "system" that I think is the future ... and believe me, since July of 2002 when I suffered acute kidney failure in Fairbanks, Alaska, I have paid close attention to health care policy as it affects my health care.

Here is what I wrote on The New York Times blog, "The Local", December 9, 2009, two-and-a-half years ago:

"As the late Thomas 'Tip' O’Neill — former Speaker of the House of Representatives—once said,'All politics is local.' And in my humble opinion — the IMHO of the blogosphere — nothing is more 'local' in politics than the politics of my own health care."

Quickly, the course has already started, and is into its 3rd week, so I am auditing it. I have viewed the first two weeks' lectures and will start start on the reading list on Friday. if anyone else is interested, please go to coursera and sign up. Even though we probably won't be able to get certificates, we can discuss it among ourselves. The course provides information we need heading into this fall and towards the election.