Discovering Innovative Solutions To the Most Pressing Health Concerns Facing The World
10.06.09
By Nora Connors
On October 6, 2009, the O’Neill Institute hosted a panel on “Medical Malpractice and Health Care Costs: Can Tort Reform Bend the Curve?” to discuss the likely impact of proposed tort reforms on medical mistakes, malpractice system costs, and overall health spending, and why politicians and the press don’t always pay attention to the existing […]
10.05.09
By Nora Connors
Recently, Members of Congress have introduced legislation to change the antitrust laws as they relate to health insurance. (See: Modern Healthcare of September 18; free registration is required to view). Some have discussed including such legislation as part of comprehensive health reform. Clark Havighurst of Duke University Law School is the godfather of the field […]
09.30.09
By Tim Jost
I would put this a bit more strongly than Mark. Talk of state nullification argues powerfully for the federal government directly enforcing insurance reforms and administering the exchanges and premium subsidies, the approach taken by the House bill HR 3200, rather than depending on the states in implement the reforms, the approach taken by the […]
09.30.09
By Mark Hall
As Tim Jost well explains, the principle of Federal Supremacy is so well settled that the threat by some state governors or legislators to bar their citizens from complying with federal health care reform is overt legal defiance, or a form of civil disobedience if you will. Civil disobedience might be justified in some circumstances, […]
09.29.09
By Tim Jost
The health law reform constitutional law issue de jour seems to be whether the states by adopting amendments to their own constitutions can block implementation of the individual mandate on their soil. See the New York Times article, Health Care Overhaul and Mandatory Coverage Stir States’ Rights Claims. Most notably, Arizona has placed a constitutional […]
09.27.09
By Mark Hall
Tim Jost is correct that procedural issues are being neglected in the tortuous legislative process that hopefully is leading to some meaningful reform. But, we all know the quip about making sausages and laws. Administrative and judicial remedies may simply need to be part of the long list of issues that Congress comes back to later, […]
09.27.09
By Nan Hunter
From CBS News: Is Mandatory Health Insurance Constitutional? In the last few days, a new argument has emerged in the debate over Democratic health care proposals: Are they constitutional? More precisely, can the federal government force Americans to buy health insurance? “Mandatory Insurance Is Unconstitutional” is the unapologetic title of an op-ed last week in […]
09.27.09
By Tim Jost
In our last post we demonstrated that Congress has the authority under Article I of the Constitution to adopt all of the health reform proposals it is currently considering seriously (or at least that the current Supreme Court would uphold the authority of Congress to do so). This does not mean, however, that Congress is […]
09.24.09
By Nora Connors
Legal Solutions author, Madhu Chugh (Executive Authority), conducted an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on President Obama’s authority to reform health care. Listen to the interview here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/loophole/archive/2009/09/if_health-care_reform_dies_wha.shtml
09.23.09
By Tim Jost
In response to Does Health Care Reform Violate the Real Constitution? by Mark A. Hall Mark is correct in identifying the individual mandate as the only component of the proposed health care reform legislation that raises a more than trivial constitutional question. The other elements of the legislation—insurance industry reforms, health insurance exchanges, the employer […]
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The views reflected in this expert column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law or Georgetown University. This blog is solely informational in nature, and not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed and retained attorney in your state or country.
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