Social Welfare Law Commons^™

Health-Care Rights Of The Poor: An Introduction, Michele Melden, Michael Parks, Laura Rosenthal

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Improving access to health care is a high priority for low-income people and their advocates. A variety of tools exist to establish legal rights to reimbursement and services. Mastery of these tools can provide dramatic improvements in the lives of the poor. This article provides a brief overview of the primary reimbursement sources for health care-Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and state and county indigent care programs. It covers the issues involved in and approaches to insuring the uninsured. It also explains the protection of access to health care provided by the Hill-Burton program, emergency room law, and civil rights. Basic …