New For Fall: The Future of American Healthcare, Co-Taught by Senator Bill Cassidy
June 25, 2026
The Ogden Honors College has added a new special topics course to its fall 2026 course offerings called HNRS 2020.903: The Future of American Healthcare.
The course will examine the challenges facing the future of American healthcare from two complementary perspectives: clinical practice and federal legislation. Topics include how healthcare legislation moves through Congress, the tradeoffs between access, quality, and cost in healthcare systems, bipartisan approaches to healthcare reform, and current challenges in Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drug pricing, and commercial insurance markets.
Honors students will have the opportunity to learn from two instructors with direct experience in the legislative process, medical practice, and policy development.
The Instructors
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD
Senator Bill Cassidy is a two-term U.S. Senator from Louisiana and a physician. Also
a double-degree LSU alumnus, he graduated from LSU in 1979 and earned his MD from
the LSU School of Medicine in 1983. He completed his residency at the Los Angeles
General Medical Center in 1987, and completed a hepatology-gastroenterology fellowship
at the same institution in 1989.
He taught at the LSU School of Medicine at Earl K. Long Hospital, co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, and led an initiative to convert an abandoned K-Mart into an emergency healthcare facility in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
He was named a 2025 LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction honoree and currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee—the first physician to hold the position since 1933. Senator Cassidy previously taught an honors seminar called Navigating Policy and Governance at the Ogden Honors College in 2023.
Mike Rolfsen, MD, FACP
Dr. Mike Rolfsen is an internal medicine specialist and medical ethicist. A two-time
LSU alumnus, he graduated from LSU in 1978 and earned his MD in 1982 from the LSU
School of Medicine in New Orleans. Rolfsen completed his residency in internal medicine
at the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile, Alabama in 1986, and
a year later became a member of the Baton Rouge Clinic family of physicians, where
he still practices today. He also serves on the board of supervisors for Fran U and
the board of Teach for America.
Dr. Rolfsen is no stranger to the French House. In late 2020, he taught an honors seminar on the bioethics of COVID-19. He taught Medical Ethics in 2024, another honors seminar on ethical issues that may arise in contemporary healthcare and the effects they have on public policy and society at large. Dr. Rolfsen will teach Medical Ethics again this fall along with The Future of American Healthcare.
About the Course
HNRS 2020.903: The Future of American Healthcare is a special topics course that counts toward honors requirements like any other HNRS course. It may also provide 3 hours of general education credit for English Composition (Part Two), Humanities, or Social Science.
Seats are limited. Students can register through Workday. For questions about the course or how it fits your academic plan, contact your Ogden Honors advisor by booking an appointment on Navigate.