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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
The Psychology Of Science Denialism And Lessons For Public Health Authorities, Brenna Moreno, Molly J. Walker Wilson
The Psychology Of Science Denialism And Lessons For Public Health Authorities, Brenna Moreno, Molly J. Walker Wilson
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As it wreaked tragedy on the world, the outbreak of COVID-19 helped expose a pandemic of a different kind, one steeped in distrust and contrarianism. This movement, termed science denialism, has been lurking and undermining public health efforts for decades. Specifically, it is “the employment of rhetorical arguments to give the appearance of legitimate debate where there is none, an approach that has the ultimate goal of rejecting a proposition on which a scientific consensus exists.” Unlike skepticism, which is “doubt as to the truth of something” and works to progress both science and society, denialism is characterized by individuals’ …
The Problem With Relying On Profit-Driven Models To Produce Pandemic Drugs, Ana Santos Rutschman
The Problem With Relying On Profit-Driven Models To Produce Pandemic Drugs, Ana Santos Rutschman
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The longstanding problems of relying on a market response to a pandemic are becoming readily apparent in the United States, which has quickly become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. The problems are particularly pronounced in pharmaceutical markets, where we are pinning our hopes for both cures and vaccines. In previous work we have shown how characteristics of healthcare markets in the United States create a divergence between the private incentives of for-profit companies and public health needs, leading to sub-optimal health outcomes in what is a uniquely market-driven healthcare system. In this Essay, written as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, …
Reviving Focused Scrutiny In The Constitutional Review Of Public Health Measures, Robert Gatter
Reviving Focused Scrutiny In The Constitutional Review Of Public Health Measures, Robert Gatter
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This article re-examines the "focused scrutiny" standard proposed by Prof. Scott Burris in 1989 and argues for its application particularly during an infectious disease emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Focused scrutiny seeks to tie judicial review of the constitutionality of public health measures closely to the facts of the particular disease and to evidence of the efficacy of each governmental action to prevent the spread of that disease, even when courts adopt rational basis testing.
Protecting The Rights Of People With Disabilities, Elizabeth Pendo
Protecting The Rights Of People With Disabilities, Elizabeth Pendo
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One in four Americans — a diverse group of 61 million people — experience some form of disability (Okoro, 2018). On average, people with disabilities experience significant disparities in education, employment, poverty, access to health care, food security, housing, transportation, and exposure to crime and domestic violence (Pendo & Iezzoni, 2019). Intersections with demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and LGBT status, may intensify certain inequities. For example, women with disability experience greater disparities in income, education, and employment (Nosek, 2016), and members of under-served racial and ethnic groups with disabilities experience greater disparities in health status and access …
Medicaid's Vital Role In Addressing Health And Economic Emergencies, Nicole Huberfeld, Sidney Watson
Medicaid's Vital Role In Addressing Health And Economic Emergencies, Nicole Huberfeld, Sidney Watson
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Medicaid plays an essential role in helping states respond to crises. Medicaid guarantees federal matching funds to states, which helps with unanticipated costs associated with public health emergencies, like COVID-19, and increases in enrollment that inevitably occur during times of economic downturn. Medicaid’s joint federal/state structure, called cooperative federalism, gives states significant flexibility within federal rules that allows states to streamline eligibility and expand benefits, which is especially important during emergencies. Federal emergency declarations give the secretary of Health and Human Services temporary authority to exercise regulatory flexibility to ensure that sufficient health care is available to meet the needs …