Law Commons^™

Engaging Health Insurers In The War On Prescription Painkillers, Valarie K. Blake

Scholarly Works

While insurers have both the power and the motivation to curb the practice of harmful opioid prescribing, they may go about it in ways that could be counter-productive to larger public health goals. After all, insurers have historically discriminated against addiction like any other condition that leads to costly healthcare consumption. In the past, insurers have avoided enrolling addicted insureds and have limited rehabilitation services. To address this epidemic, insurers might engage in ways that could harm third parties. For example, to the extent they are permitted, insurers might avoid addicted enrollees altogether, or might limit coverage of addiction treatments …

Reproductive Selection Bias, Lauren R. Roth

Scholarly Works

Decades after the advent of assisted reproductive technology (ART) that allows prospective parents to deselect embryos with grave genetic illnesses – a procedure called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) – it remains a tool largely of upper class whites. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, I argue that the time has come to focus on access in this area of reproductive rights. The next logical step is to rebut the presumption that reproductive liberty is only a negative right that prevents government interference with decisions about whether and how to procreate or not …

Redefining Medical Care, Lauren R. Roth

Scholarly Works

President Donald J. Trump has said he will replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with health savings accounts (HSAs). Conservatives have long preferred individual accounts to meet social welfare needs instead of more traditional entitlement programs. The types of “medical care” that can be reimbursed through an HSA are listed in § 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and include expenses “for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body.”

In spite of the broad language, regulations and court interpretations have narrowed this definition substantially. …