ABSTRACT
Our students ought to know about the history of formal hospital segregation and desegregation. To that end, this article urges those who teach foundational health law and policy courses to do three things. First, to teach the Simkins case. Second, to swap out the usual Medicare signing ceremony picture for one that includes W. Montague Cobb, M.D., Ph.D. Third, to highlight how the implementation of that program for the elderly led, in a matter of months, to the desegregation of hospitals throughout the country.
Subject(s)
Desegregation , Aged , Humans , United States , Civil Rights , Medicare , Hospitals , StudentsABSTRACT
Beginning on inauguration day, President Trump has attempted an executive repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In doing so, he has tested the limits of presidential power. He has challenged the force of institutional and non-institutional constraints. And, ironically, he has helped boost public support for the ACA's central features. The first two sections of this article respectively consider the use of the President's tools to advance and to subvert health reform. The final two sections consider the forces constraining the administration's attempted executive repeal. I argue that the most important institutional constraint, thus far, is found in multifaceted actions by states - and not only blue states. I also highlight the force of public voices. Personal stories, public opinion, and 2018 election results - bolstered by presidential messaging - reflect growing support for government-grounded options and statutory coverage protections. Indeed, in a polarized time, "refine and revise" seems poised to supplant "repeal and replace" as the conservative focus countering liberal pressure for a common option grounded in Medicare.
Subject(s)
Administrative Personnel , Health Care Reform/legislation & jurisprudence , Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/legislation & jurisprudence , Politics , Federal Government , Financing, Government/legislation & jurisprudence , Financing, Government/organization & administration , Government Regulation , Health Care Reform/history , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Insurance, Health, Reimbursement/legislation & jurisprudence , Jurisprudence , Medicaid/legislation & jurisprudence , Medicaid/organization & administration , Medicare/legislation & jurisprudence , Medicare/organization & administration , Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/organization & administration , Preexisting Condition Coverage , Public Opinion , State Government , United StatesABSTRACT
Between 2010 and 2016, the percentage of uninsured higher education students dropped by more than half. All the Affordable Care Act's key access provisions contributed, but the most important factor appears to be the Medicaid expansion. This article is the first to highlight this phenomenon and ground it in data. It explores the reasons for this dramatic expansion of coverage, links it to theoretical frameworks, and considers its implications for the future of health reform. Drawing on Medicaid universality scholarship, I discuss potential consequences of including the educationally privileged in this historically stigmatized program. Extending this scholarship, I argue that the student experience and its reverberating effects portend support for emerging proposals to make Medicare a more common option. Woven into both analyses is the role of the Trump-era retrenchment, notably the administration's promotion of Medicaid "work or community engagement" requirements and of cheap, skimpy plans. Higher education students were an afterthought in the ACA's debates, and yet the law has profoundly impacted their coverage options. Students are now much more likely to have health insurance, and for it to be comprehensive. Looking to the next decade, the student experience harbingers support for both Medicaid universality and Medicare commonality.
