EVENTS FALL 2009

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
EUROPEAN HEALTHCARE POLICY AND POLITICS

8.30 AM - 4.30 PM
Rhodes Conference Room
Sanford School of Public Policy

Consponsored by the Duke Center for European Studies and the
UNC-Chapel Hill Center for European Studies

The Duke Center for European Studies welcomes you to join us for a conference on European
Healthcare Policy and Politics on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2009. In collaboration with the
UNC Center for European Studies, we invite all Duke and UNC faculty and students to attend
the conference for any or all speakers.

As any observer of recent healthcare reform debates in the U.S. can attest, Europe has probably
never gotten so much attention for its healthcare policy. Unfortunately, much of the public debate
on this topic has been ill informed, based on caricature and divorced from the real strengths and real weaknesses of European healthcare. While hardly free of problems, there are many lessons we can
learn from how Europe organizes healthcare. Moreover, the history and politics of European health-
care can teach us a great deal as well. The conference aims to inform scholarly and public debate on healthcare politics and policy as well as deepen our understanding of contemporary Europe.

We have been fortunate to invite a multi-disciplinary set of academics who are actively involved in
research on European healthcare. Specifically, the conference will feature the following guests:

Sigrun Olafsdottir, Boston University, Sociology:
“Successful Health Care Systems? Variations in and Determinants of Public Attitudes in 33 Nations”

Julia Lynch, University of Pennsylvania, Political Science:
“On Death and Taxes: The Politics of Regional Health Inequalities in Europe.”

Mauricio Pabon, Harvard University, Public Health:
“Wealth and Health in Europe and the United States: Are wealthy Americans healthier than poor Europeans?”

Paul Dutton, Northern Arizona University, History:
“Voices from the Past: Health Care Reform in France and the U.S. Debate”

Kieke Okma, New York University, Healthcare Management:
“European Healthcare Reform”

Each guest will give a presentation of approximately 35 minutes, and will be followed by a commentary
of a local discussant, and discussion.

Please join us on November 20 for a stimulating intellectual debate on European healthcare policy
and politics. If you will be able to attend, we would appreciate that you RSVP to Sharon Peters at sharon.peters@duke.edu by noon on Monday November 16. This will allow us to order sufficient
food for the lunch. Of course, we would be happy to have you in attendance for any part of the event.
Feel free to just show up for whatever you can.

Hope you can join us,

David Brady
Department of Sociology
Director, Center for European Studies