The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Health, and the Elusive Target of Human Rights

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics

Volumn 39, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 340-354

  Gable, Lance ^a  

^a WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONFERENCE PAPER; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS; INSURANCE; POLITICS; PUBLIC HEALTH; TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT; UNITED STATES;

HEALTH CARE REFORM; HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANS; INSURANCE COVERAGE; PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT; POLITICS; PUBLIC HEALTH; QUALITY IMPROVEMENT; UNITED STATES;

EID: 80051976278     PISSN: 10731105     EISSN: 1748720X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2011.00604.x     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (63)

1. Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148 (signed signed into law March 23, 2010).
2. L. O. Gostin et al., "Restoring Health to Health Reform: Integrating Medicine and Public Health to Advance the Population's Wellbeing, "Pennsylvania Law Review (forthcoming 2011).
3. C. W. Copeland, "Rulemaking Requirements and Authorities in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), "Congressional Research Service, Report R41180 (Feb. 18, 2011).
4. See, generally, J. Quadagno, One Nation, Uninsured (New York Oxford University Press, 2005); P. Starr, The Social Transformation of American Medicine (New York: Basic Books, 1982).
5. T. Skocpol and P. Seliger Keenan, "Cross Pressures: The Contemporary Politics of Health Reform, "in D. Mechanic et al., eds., Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care (Piscataway, NJ Rutgers University Press 2005): at 27.
6. P.L. 104-191 (1996).
7. P.L. 105-33 (1997).
8. P.L. 108-173 (2003).
9. Report by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation for Health and Human Services, Effects of Health Care Spending on the U.S. Economy (2005), available at <> (last visited July 8, 2011) ("Since 1998, health care spending has increased at faster rate of growth than has gross domestic product [GDP], inflation, and population").
10. G. F. Anderson and B. K. Frogner, "Health Spending In OECD Countries: Obtaining Value Per Dollar, "Health Affairs 27, no. 6 (2008): 1718-1727; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditures, 2007, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group (2007); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OECD Health Data 2009: Statistics and Indicators for 30 Countries (2009).
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17. See PPACA, supra note 1.
18. Senator Harkin made a particularly strong appeal for the passage of the ACA citing the many benefits to public health, and even claiming the Bill would create a "right to health" during the senate floor debate on December 21, 2009. 155 Cong. Rec. S13661 (daily ed. Dec. 21, 2009) (statement of Sen. Harkin). However, during that day's debate, there are only seven references to "public health", 21 references to "wellness", 0 references to "population health", and an overwhelming 266 references to "insurance" (30 of which to insurance companies) throughout the day's speakers. Id., at 13661-13695. This pattern is repeated throughout the debate materials.
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26. 42 U.S.C. 300u-10 (2011).
27. Department of Health and Human Services, National Prevention Strategy (2011), available at <> (last visited July 8, 2011).
28. 42 U.S.C. 300u-11 (2011).
29. P.L. 111-148, § 6302.
30. See 42 U.S.C. 280g-10, 300u-12.
31. G. Shearer, APHA Issue Brief - Prevention Provisions in the Affordable Care Act (October 2010), available at <> (last visited July 8, 2011).
32. P.L. 111-148, §§ 1101, 1201 (Amending PHSA § 2704), § 1001 (Amending PHSA §§ 2711, 2712).
33. See M. A. Hall, "Commerce Clause Challenges to Health Care Reform, "Pennsylvania Law Review 159, no. 6 (2011): 1825-1872 (arguing that the individual mandate is valid constitutionally), and R. E. Barnett, "Commandeering the People: Why the Individual Health Insurance Mandate Is Unconstitutional, "New York University Journal of Law & Liberty 5, no. 3 (2010): 581-637 (making the counter argument).
34. P.L. 111-148, §1401 (Amending I.R.C. § 36B).
35. See Virginia ex rel. Cuccinelli v. Sebelius, 728 F. Supp.2d 768 (holding the individual mandate exceeded congressional scope under the commerce clause); Florida ex rel. Bondi v. Dept. Health and Human Services, - F.Supp.2d --, 2011 WL 285683 N.D.Fla., 2011 (finding same and declaring the entire statute unconstitutional).
36. A. Chandra et al., "The Importance of the Individual Mandate - Evidence from Massachusetts, "New England Journal of Medicine 364, no. 4 (2011): 293-295.
37. J. Oberlander, "Throwing Darts: Americans' Elusive Search for Health Care Cost Control, "Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law 36, no. 3 (2011): 477-484.
38. P.L. 111-148, §§ 1104, 1413.
39. See Oberlander, supra note 57.
40. P.L. 111-148, § 3022, supra note 5.
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42. See discussion supra of "Health Care Reform in the United States: The Perennial Struggle for Common Ground.".
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44. World Health Organization, The Constitution of the World Health Organization (1948).
45. L. Henkin, The Age of Rights (New York Columbia University Press, 1990).
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47. United Nations General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948, 217 A (III), available at <> (last visited July 7, 2011).
48. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of December 16, 1966, available at <> (last visited June 28, 2011).
49. U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, CESCR General Comment 14. 22d Sess., Agenda Item 3, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4. 2000 [hereinafter GC 14].
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51. U.N. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health (2008), Human Rights Council, 7th session, Agenda item 3, at 12, UN doc. A/HRC/7/11, January 31, 2008, at 12 [hereinafter "Special Rapporteur Health Systems Report"].
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53. G. Backman, P. Hunt, R. Kholsa, C. Jaramilla-Strouss, B. Mikuria Fikre, and C. Rumble et al., "Health Systems and the Right to Health: An Assessment of 194 Countries, "The Lancet 372, no. 9655 (2008): 2047-2085; P. Hunt and G. Backman, "Health Systems and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, "Health and Human Rights 10, no. 1 (2008): 81-92.
54. 42 U.S.C. 300u-11 (2011).
55. P.L. 111-148, § 2601.
56. See Shearer, supra note 46.
57. See Special Rapporteur Health Systems Report, para. 63 (stating that "often legitimate but competing claims aris[e] from the same human right").
58. GC 14, at para. 19.
59. P.L. 111-148, §§ 1101, 1201 (Amending PHSA § 2704), § 1001 (Amending PHSA §§ 2711, 2712).
60. GC 14, para. 35.
61. P.L. 111-148, §§ 1501 (Amending IRC § 5000A), § 1513 (Amending IRC § 4980H).
62. Special Rapporteur Health Systems Report, para 52.
63. P.L. 111-148, § 1303 (42 USC 18023).