Health Law and Policy Commons^™

The Public’S Right To Health: When Patient Rights Threaten The Commons, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

Scholarly Works

This Article offers a contemporary examination of traditional public health objectives to address social problems not amenable to individual resolution. Taking the tradition a step further, it defines a "public health right" that may justify certain government actions that otherwise appear to impair individual rights. For example, lawmakers are considering whether current regulations on prescription drugs should be loosened to allow terminally ill patients to access drugs before they have been tested and approved for the general public. This Article concludes that expanding access to experimental drugs would violate the public health right to scientific knowledge and new drug development. …

Cooperative Federalism And Healthcare Reform: The Medicare Part D 'Clawback' Example, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

Scholarly Works

This symposium article recounts recent litigation by several states over a provision of the Medicare Modernization Act Part D prescription drug benefit: The clawback, which requires states to pay the a potentially substantial portion of new federal program. I then examine the unique federalism implications of the clawback for ongoing state and federal health reform initiatives.

In spring 2006, several states petitioned the United States Supreme Court for original jurisdiction to hear a challenge to one provision of the new Medicare Part D prescription drug law. The federal government, while taking over prescription drug coverage for dually eligible beneficiaries, required …

The Fragility Of The Affordable Care Act's Universal Coverage Strategy, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

Scholarly Works

This paper was presented at DePaul University in March 2006, as part of a Symposium on Shaping a New Direction for Law and Medicine: An International Debate on Culture, Disaster, Biotechnology & Public Health. Following the catastrophic events of 2005, including Hurricane Katrina, Pakistani Earthquakes, bird flu transmission to human populations, and the real threat of bioterrorism, government struggled in the aftermath to make sense of the devastation and human displacement. Medical teams, try as they might, are not always prepared and alerted as to how best investigate and quickly render assistance. The Symposium addressed the role of government, policy-makers, …

Lessons From Katrina: Response, Recovery And The Public Health Infrastructure, Elizabeth Weeks

Scholarly Works

This paper was presented at DePaul University in March 2006, as part of a Symposium on Shaping a New Direction for Law and Medicine: An International Debate on Culture, Disaster, Biotechnology & Public Health. Following the catastrophic events of 2005, including Hurricane Katrina, Pakistani Earthquakes, bird flu transmission to human populations, and the real threat of bioterrorism, government struggled in the aftermath to make sense of the devastation and human displacement. Medical teams, try as they might, are not always prepared and alerted as to how best investigate and quickly render assistance. The Symposium addressed the role of government, policy-makers, …

Refusals To Deal In "Locked-In" Health Care Markets Under Section 2 Of The Sherman Act After Eastman Kodak Co. V. Image Technical Services, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

In the Kodak context, several common health care provider practices, previously challenged with varying results under traditional antitrust analysis, may be reexamined to focus upon the effect of refusals to deal in a secondary market with potential competitors in that secondary market. This Article focuses on three such practices: (1) the non-immunized revocation of hospital staff privileges for other than legitimate, quality-of-care motives; (2) the denial of hospital privileges to differentially credentialed, state-licensed providers; and (3) the closure of membership in comprehensive health care plans, such as preferred-provider organizations, combined with a refusal to deal with nonmembers. These practices should …