Health Policy Commons^™

A Public Health Framework For Screening Mammography: Evidence-Based Versus Politically Mandated Care, Lawrence O. Gostin, Kenneth W. Lin Md

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Viewpoint highlights the societal risks of politically motivated mandates relating to public health guidelines. Although the Affordable Care Act mandated insurance coverage for U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)-recommended preventive services, it went further for mammography screening. Instead of relying on the most recent USPSTF guidelines, Congress amended the ACA to require the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to use its 2002 guidelines, which recommended screening every 1-2 years starting at age 40. The FY 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act instructs DHHS to interpret any reference to “current” USPSTF breast cancer screening recommendations to mean those issued “before …

The Aca’S Contraceptive Mandate: Religious Freedom, Women’S Health, And Corporate Personhood, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

On June 30 2014 the Supreme Court decided Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc, in a deeply divided judgment that engaged religious freedom, women’s health, and corporate personhood. Three closely held for-profit organizations challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, objecting to four contraceptive methods that they believe acted as abortifacients, in violation of their Christian beliefs.

The Court held that the contraceptive mandate violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, ruling that the Act’s protections extended to closely held corporations, with the mandate substantially burdening their religious freedoms. The Court acknowledged the federal government’s compelling interest in …

Libertarian Patriarchalism: Nudges, Procedural Roadblocks, And Reproductive Choice, Govind Persad

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler's proposal that social and legal institutions should steer individuals toward some options and away from others-a stance they dub "libertarian paternalism"-has provoked much high-level discussion in both academic and policy settings. Sunstein and Thaler believe that steering, or "nudging," individuals is easier to justify than the bans or mandates that traditional paternalism involves.

This Article considers the connection between libertarian paternalism and the regulation of reproductive choice. I first discuss the use of nudges to discourage women from exercising their right to choose an abortion, or from becoming or remaining pregnant. I then argue that …