<nobr>Apr 6, 2009</nobr>

Georgetown University Project Analyzes Legal Issues Relating to Health Reform

Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University has published a number of issue briefs that analyze legal issues relating to health reform, and outline potential solutions to some of the most significant legal problems in the health reform debate. The Institute's Legal Solutions in Health Reform project covers topics ranging from the constitutionality of a federal insurance mandate and the role of health insurance exchanges to privacy issues associated with health information technology and the purchase of insurance across state lines.

Included among the documents is a study entitled "The Role of ERISA Preemption in Health Reform: Opportunities and Limits," written by Peter D. Jacobson, a health law professor at the University of Michigan. Jacobson attempts to "examine the trajectory of judicial interpretation of ERISA and to discuss what opportunities exist to facilitate health care initiatives given the constraints of ERISA preemption." He concludes criticizing ERISA as "poorly and ambiguously drafted," and argues for "a new approach -- one that facilitates reform instead of impeding it."

###

Websites:

Legal Solutions in Health Reform Issue Briefs/Overview

Back to Previous Page