Neal J. Gauger
M.A. Student
gauger@sas.upenn.edu
Education
B.S., Ithaca College
Fields
U.S. History, Medical History, History of Social Justice
Research Interests
I am interested in the history of: privatized health care and insurance systems in the United States; alternative models for federalized and social health systems; legal precedent for the expansion and modification of federal and public health programs.
Advisor
Personal Statement
My professional career has brought me into close proximity and interaction with a great swath of Philadelphia's uninsured population. These encounters, paired with the many difficult experiences I have had in obtaining medical care for myself and other insured individuals in my immediate family, have laid plain to me that the current health care/insurance system in the United States has failed both those individuals it is designed to provide for and the greater population at large. I am of the mind that there is no better way to examine contemporary social issues than to study their past -- to that end, while a student at Penn, I hope to delve into the history of the modern health care system in terms of its foundations, growth, and legal structure.
