Law Commons^™

Improving The Population’S Health: The Affordable Care Act And The Importance Of Integration, Lorian E. Hardcastle, Katherine L. Record, Peter D. Jacobson, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

Heath care and public health are typically conceptualized as separate, albeit overlapping, systems. Health care’s goal is the improvement of individual patient outcomes through the provision of medical services. In contrast, public health is devoted to improving health outcomes in the population as a whole through health promotion and disease prevention. Health care services receive the bulk of funding and political support, while public health is chronically starved of resources. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality, policymakers must shift their attention to public health services and to the improved integration of health care and public health. In other words, …

The Purchase Of Insurance Across State Lines In The Individual Insurance Market, Stephanie W. Kanwit

O'Neill Institute Papers

Proposals to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines (PASL) have gained some support in recent years. Health insurers have traditionally been allowed to sell a policy only within the state that approved and regulates that particular policy. PASL would allow insurers to sell a policy approved in one state to people residing in any state.

Any federal legislation to enact PASL in an individual insurance market would have to address two main legal considerations: 1) the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which allows the states to retain their regulatory authority over insurance, and 2) a constitutional prohibition against the commandeering of …