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Full-Text Articles in Law

Can Compulsory Health Insurance Be Justified? An Examination Of Taiwan's National Health Insurance , Chuan-Feng Wu Jan 2013

Can Compulsory Health Insurance Be Justified? An Examination Of Taiwan's National Health Insurance , Chuan-Feng Wu

Journal of Law and Health

Since a great paradox lies beneath the universal health insurance mandate debate in both Taiwan and the U.S., Taiwan’s experience clarifying the constitutionality of its compulsory universal health insurance program might provide valuable lessons to the U.S. The goal of this Article is to provide a theoretical basis, based upon the human rights impact assessment in public health policies and a Rawlsian theory of justice, to decide whether the restriction on individual liberty imposed by Taiwan’s compulsory NHI is constitutionally justified. An analytic four-step assessment is established to evaluate the NHI’s burden on individual liberties: (1) examine the importance, legitimacy, …


The Rules Of The Fight Must Be Fair: States Should Pass A Uniform Code For Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemption Of Real Property, Lowell R. Mintz Jan 2013

The Rules Of The Fight Must Be Fair: States Should Pass A Uniform Code For Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemption Of Real Property, Lowell R. Mintz

Journal of Law and Health

The lines have been blurred between a charitable hospital and a profit-generating healthcare business. The definition of charitable care has been under pressure from government taxing authorities seeking to raise tax revenues by challenging the tax exemption for vast amounts of hospital real estate. Charitable hospitals are pushing to expand the definition of charitable care, while at the same time seeking tax exemption for a growing number of satellite properties. This conflict between governments and hospitals is leading to confusion about what qualifies as charity care, warranting nonprofit status, and the privilege of tax exemption. Local taxing authorities, state courts, …


The Commerce Clause Implications Of The Individual Mandate Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act , L. Darnell Weeden Jan 2013

The Commerce Clause Implications Of The Individual Mandate Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act , L. Darnell Weeden

Journal of Law and Health

The fundamental focus of this Article is whether the decision not to buy individual health insurance as required by Congress also qualifies as valid economic activity under the Commerce Clause. This question before the Court continues the modern battle regarding the scope of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause, and the battle regarding the regulation of economic activity continues, irrespective of the Supreme Court decision regarding PPACA, because of the continuing impact of the Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Lopez. Part II of this Article contends that the decision not to purchase health insurance is not to be …


Mapping Our Future: The Impact Of Gene Patents On Scientific Research And Health Care In The United States, Caitlin E. Lanning Jan 2013

Mapping Our Future: The Impact Of Gene Patents On Scientific Research And Health Care In The United States, Caitlin E. Lanning

Journal of Law and Health

In September, 2011, the Senate passed H.R. 1249, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”), which President Barrack Obama signed into law on September 16th. The AIA is the largest transformation to U.S. patent law since 1952. While the new legislation implements numerous, positive changes to the U.S. patent system, it fails to address any of the concerns raised by gene patent critics over the past few decades. Gene patents should be categorized as patentable subject matter within the AIA, but under a separate patent category with specifically engineered regulations designed to promote scientific research and collaboration that will in turn …


Health Care Sharing Ministries: Scam Or Solution?, Benjamin Boyd Jan 2013

Health Care Sharing Ministries: Scam Or Solution?, Benjamin Boyd

Journal of Law and Health

Health Care Share Ministries (HCSMs) provide “a health care cost sharing arrangement among persons of similar and sincerely held beliefs.” HCSMs are not-for-profit religious organizations that act as clearinghouses for “those who have medical expenses and those who desire to share the burden of those medical expenses. This Article begins with a survey of the general regulatory landscape for HCSMs. Following that, four key questions about HCSMs structure the rest of this Article. The first question asks, what are HCSMs? To answer that question, this Article examines the basic aspects of the Medi-Share program and the Christian Brotherhood Newsletter. Second, …


Finding A Cure: Incentivizing Partnerships Between Disease Advocacy Groups And Academic Commercial Researchers , Anne M. Readel Jan 2013

Finding A Cure: Incentivizing Partnerships Between Disease Advocacy Groups And Academic Commercial Researchers , Anne M. Readel

Journal of Law and Health

Collaborations between for-profit drug companies and not-for-profit disease advocacy groups have risen in recent years in an effort to find cures for orphan diseases. These unique and beneficial collaborations are a result of disease advocacy groups assuming a more active role in drug development through the use of “venture philanthropy,” which employs concepts and techniques from venture capitalism and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. While these collaborations have found remarkable success, such as the discovery of the first known cure for cystic fibrosis in 2012, venture philanthropy for drug discovery presents numerous legal and social challenges. This Article examines …


Hipaa As An Evidentiary Rule: An Analysis Of Miguel M. And Its Impact , Jennifer Clark Jan 2013

Hipaa As An Evidentiary Rule: An Analysis Of Miguel M. And Its Impact , Jennifer Clark

Journal of Law and Health

In New York suppression of evidence is only appropriate where constitutional, statutory, or decisional authority mandates it, even if obtained by unethical or unlawful means. The courts have been split on how to apply this standard to evidence obtained in violation of HIPAA. In the case In re Miguel M., the New York Court of Appeals addressed this question for the first time, finding that such evidence should be suppressed. Because it is the first authoritative case in New York addressing the evidentiary impact of a HIPAA violation, it is tempting to read Miguel M. as creating a new evidentiary …


The Stark Physician Self-Referral Law And Accountable Care Organizations: Collision Course Or Opportunity To Reconcile Federal Anti-Abuse And Cost-Saving Legislation?, Benjamin Holland Able Jan 2013

The Stark Physician Self-Referral Law And Accountable Care Organizations: Collision Course Or Opportunity To Reconcile Federal Anti-Abuse And Cost-Saving Legislation?, Benjamin Holland Able

Journal of Law and Health

Scholars and legal practitioners have long debated the virtues and vices of integrated models of health care delivery and financing. Few such models have been as promising or as rapidly adopted as Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”), the latest concept in delivering cost-effective, high-quality health care. Implementation of pre-ACO models, however, never required extensive grants of immunity to providers and suppliers from the federal Stark physician self-referral law (“Stark”) and other fraud and abuse laws. The broad waivers issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) for implementing ACOs raise unprecedented legal questions concerning Stark’s application to these hospital/physician …


The Individual Mandate As Health Care Regulation: What The Obama Administration Should Have Said In Nfib V. Sebelius, Abigail R. Moncrieff Jan 2013

The Individual Mandate As Health Care Regulation: What The Obama Administration Should Have Said In Nfib V. Sebelius, Abigail R. Moncrieff

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

There was an argument that the Obama Administration's lawyers could have made—but didn't—in defending Obamacare 's individual mandate against constitutional attack. That argument would have highlighted the role of comprehensive health insurance in steering individuals' healthcare savings and consumption decisions. Because consumer-directed healthcare, which reaches its apex when individuals self-insure, suffers from several known market failures and because comprehensive health insurance policies play an unusually aggressive regulatory role in attempting to correct those failures, the individual mandate could be seen as an attempt to eliminate inefficiencies in the healthcare market that arise from individual decisions to self-insure. This argument would …


The Dark Side Of The Boom: The Peculiar Dilemma Of Modern False Claims Act Litigation, David S. Torborg Jan 2013

The Dark Side Of The Boom: The Peculiar Dilemma Of Modern False Claims Act Litigation, David S. Torborg

Journal of Law and Health

Spurred by treble damages, substantial penalties, and lucrative relator awards, litigation under federal and state False Claims Act (“FCA”) statutes has exploded in recent years. Much of that explosion stems from aggressive and creative legal theories that challenge controversial industry practices or even well-known loopholes or waste in government policy. Evidence from governmental entities can be critically important in litigating these FCA claims. Unique aspects of False Claims Act actions, however, can aggravate the risk of losing this important evidence, leaving the parties, judges, and juries without the evidentiary record necessary to equitably adjudicate these disputes. Defendants can face the …