Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Health Law Outlook - Volume 6, Issue 2 (Spring 2013)

Health Law Outlook (archive)

Inside this issue:

• Reproductive Ramifications: The U.S.’s Refusal to Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Damaging Collateral Consequences on the Right to Choose, Elijah Bresley
• Surrogacy and Silence: Why State Legislatures Should Attempt to Regulate Gestational Surrogacy Agreements, Melissa Cartine
• Pharmaceuticals, Crime, and the Constitution: Promoting Off-Label Drug Use and the First Amendment, Phillip DeFedele
• The Losing Battle: Veterans’ Backlogged Mental Health Issues Need Reinforcements, Daniel Gilbert
• Are You In or Out: A Possible Solution to the United States’ Organ Donation Crisis, Robert Granzen
• The Future of Genetic Testing and the …

Migrant Farmworkers And Access To Health Care In Minnesota: Needs, Barriers, And Remedies, Rachel L. Gunsalus

Sociology Honors Projects

Every year, migrant farmworkers (MFWs) travel from southern Texas to Minnesota to provide the temporary labor needed to harvest seasonal Minnesotan crops. Migratory agricultural labor exposes workers to increased risk of occupational hazards, communicable disease, and chronic illness. However, the agricultural industry does not offer employer-based health insurance to these seasonal workers, and provides wages insufficient to otherwise cover the cost of health care services. This research investigates the financial and non-financial barriers to health care for Minnesota’s MFWs through interviews with staff from Migrant Health Service, Inc., the only federally-designated Migrant Health Center (MHC) in Minnesota. The findings show …

Annual Report 2012, Forum Staff

National Health Policy Forum

This annual report describes the activities of the Forum during the 2012 calendar year, and provides a snapshot of our resources.

A Public Health Approach To Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres

Faculty Publications By Year

Trafficked individuals experience physical, sexual and emotional violence at the hands of traffickers, pimps, employers, among others, and are exposed to various workplace, health and environmental hazards. The breadth of the harm suggests a role for a currently underutilized approach: public health methodologies. The field of public health offers vital skills and expertise in the fight against human trafficking.

Taxing Food And Beverage Products: A Public Health Perspective And A New Strategy For Prevention, Jennifer L. Pomeranz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The power to tax and spend is considered a primary government power, and the use thereof is associated with great public health achievements. The greatest public health challenge at present stems from the increase in obesity and chronic diseases due to poor nutrition. Several taxation strategies have emerged in the health and economic literature to raise revenue, deter consumption, and address food prices and obesity directly. These proposals include taxing obese individuals, taxing problematic food products, and instituting a tax based on certain food components. This article weighs each proposal's value and disadvantages and concludes by proposing a new tax …

A Comparison Of The Role Of The Employer In The French And U.S. Health Care Systems, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The United States is unique among developed nations in its heavy reliance on employment-based health insurance. The United States, however, is not the only nation in which employers play an important role in the financing of health care. Indeed, long before employment-based health insurance became common in the United States, countries with social insurance systems, such as France, Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, provided for the delivery of mandatory social insurance benefits, including health insurance, through the workplace.

This article explores the role of the employer in the health care system in one such country: France. The French health …

Foreword—A Student Symposium On National Federation Of Independent Business V. Sebelius, Joshua M. Silverstein

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Let Them Eat . . . Broccoli?, Josie G. Richardson

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act: A Constitutional Analysis, David C. Jung

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Avoiding The Unavoidable: The Canon Of Constitutional Avoidance As Applied To The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, T. J. Fosko

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Breaking Down The Supreme Court’S Spending Clause Ruling In Nfib V. Sebelius: A Huge Blow To The Federal Government Or A Mere Bump In The Road?, Ellen K. Howard

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Genomics Unbound: The Scientific And Legal Case Against Patents Based On Naturally Occurring Dna Sequences, Fazal Khan

Scholarly Works

While there have been mixed opinions as to whether gene patents were dead in light of Prometheus,this Article argues that a proper understanding of patent law, genomics, and public policy concerns should lead to no other result. The primary focus of this piece is to rebut certain vested interests in the biotechnology industry and affirm the normative claim that gene patents improperly fetter genomics research and development. First, through the lens of the Myriad case, we will recount why there was such a strong public interest movement against recognizing such patents. Specifically, we will show how patents on naturally occurring …

Alcohol And Obesity Law In Canada, The United Kingdom, And Australia, M. Neil Browne, Nancy K. Kubasek

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article examines the legal frameworks governing disability discrimination related to alcohol dependence and obesity across Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. It highlights the varying degrees of protection afforded to individuals with these conditions under human rights legislation and employment laws. The analysis underscores the tension between recognizing these conditions as disabilities and balancing employer responsibilities, while also exploring the evolving nature of legal protections in light of recent court rulings and shifting societal attitudes.

When Caring Is Work: Home, Health, And The Invisible Workforce: Introduction, Dianne Avery, Martha T. Mccluskey

Buffalo Law Review

This essay introduces the SUNY Buffalo Law School 2012 James McCormick Mitchell Lecture. The Lecture featured distinguished scholars Hendrik Hartog, Jennifer Klein, and Peggie R. Smith, who each contributed an essay to this volume. These three scholars give a richly detailed picture of home caretakers' struggles to gain visibility and support for their important work. Legal rulings and policy choices have made care workers distinctly vulnerable, treating care services as an expression of love rather than contract (as Hartog describes), or as social rehabilitation for marginal citizens rather than as skilled health care provision (as Klein explains), or as informal …

Two Stories About Two Currencies Of Care, Hendrik Hartog

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Will Care For The Elderly?: The Future Of Home Care, Peggie R. Smith

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

"We Have To Take It To The Top!": Workers, State Policy, And The Making Of Home Care, Jennifer Klein, Eileen Boris

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taxation Without Representation: The Illegal Irs Rule To Expand Tax Credits Under The Ppaca, Jonathan H. Adler, Michael F. Cannon

Faculty Publications

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provides tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance plans on state-run insurance exchanges. Contrary to expectations, many states are refusing or otherwise failing to create such exchanges. An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule purports to extend these tax credits and subsidies to the purchase of health insurance in federal exchanges created in states without exchanges of their own. This rule lacks statutory authority. The text, structure, and history of the Act show that tax credits and subsidies are not available in federally run exchanges. The IRS rule is …

Tackling The Global Ncd Crisis: Innovations In Law And Governance, Bryan P. Thomas, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

35 million people die annually of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries—representing a marked epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases and from richer to poorer countries. The total number of NCDs is projected to rise by 17% over the coming decade, absent significant interventions. The NCD epidemic poses unique governance challenges: the causes are multifactorial, the affected populations diffuse, and effective responses require sustained multi-sectorial cooperation. The authors propose a range of regulatory options available at the domestic level, including stricter food labeling laws, regulation of food advertisements, tax incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, …

Equality Arguments For Abortion Rights, Neil S. Siegel, Reva B. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

Roe v. Wade grounds constitutional protections for women’s decision wheth­er to end a pregnancy in the Due Process Clauses. But in the four decades since Roe, the U.S. Supreme Court has come to recognize the abortion right as an equality right as well as a liberty right. In this Essay, we describe some distinctive features of equality arguments for abortion rights. We then show how, over time, the Court and individual Justices have begun to employ equal­ity arguments in analyzing the constitutionality of abortion restrictions. These arguments first appear inside of substantive due process case law, and then as claims …