At long last, the Biden Administration has finalized its rule clarifying the protections laid out in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the part of the law that forbids federally funded health care activities and programs from discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, age, or disability. The scope of Section 1557 protections has expanded and retracted over three Presidential Administrations.  In this new final rule, the Biden Administration restores – and builds on – many of the original protections of the 2016 rule that were eliminated in 2020.  A ..read more

On April 22, 2024, the Administration released a final rule strengthening privacy and confidentiality protections for reproductive health data under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This rule is one of the many actions the Administration has taken to shore up reproductive health care access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. The privacy rule released earlier this week adds important new protections limiting the circumstan ..read more

Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and The Global FoodBanking Network offer comprehensive policy opportunities for national governments FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Boston, MA. (April 24, 2024) – Food loss and waste (FLW) occurs at every stage of the supply chain and generates significant social, environmental, and economic costs. About one-third of food produced globally – or about 1.3 billion tons – is lost or wasted annually. It ends up in landfills, where it emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as it rots. Yet, about 783 million people faced hunger globally, or about 1 in 10 people ..read more

By Catherine Boudreau. Originally published in Business Insider on March 28, 2024. Nearly 60 types of date labels appear on food and drinks in US stores. The confusion leads to the average family of four losing about $1,500 a year to uneaten food. Before tossing that almond milk labeled “best before” March 2024, try the smell test. There’s a good chance it’s safe to drink and blend into smoothies. Nearly 60 types of date labels appear on food and drinks in US grocery stores, but few convey useful information about quality or safety. The mixed messages have confused Americans for decades and ..read more

Prescription drug access and pricing have been in the policy spotlight at the federal level over the past few years, with Congress taking unprecedent steps to respond to high prescription drug prices in Medicare through passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. But state governments are also finding ways to address the rising costs of drugs. One mechanism states are using to evaluate and curb the prices of certain high-cost drugs are Prescription Drug Affordability Boards (PDABs). A PDAB is an independent board made up of experts tasked with analyzing—and in some cases, acting to r ..read more

By Anu Dairkee (MD, JD), CHLPI Clinical Fellow On March 18 and 19, 2024, CHLPI’s Health Care Access Team Director Liz Kaplan, Staff Attorney John Card, and I, along with three students from the Health Law and Policy Clinic, joined hundreds of advocates at AIDS Watch 2024 to promote policies that will end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. AIDSWatch is co-presented by CHLPI and is the nation’s largest annual constituent-based HIV advocacy event, where the motto is “Nothing about us without us.” People living with and vulnerable to HIV from around the country come together each year at AIDSWatch to ad ..read more

Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation represents five families challenging Louisiana ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors Mar 19, 2024 By Rachel Reed. Originally published on Harvard Law Today A new Louisiana law prohibits access to crucial medical care for transgender youth — while allowing the same kinds of treatments for other children — which is illegal under the state’s constitution, contend students and advocates at Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. The clinic and its legal partners filed suit in January against Louisiana’s H ..read more

March 19, 2024  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (BOSTON) — Late yesterday, Plaintiffs in Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (BAGLY) et al v. HHS, a lawsuit challenging the Trump-Pence Administration’s “Rollback Rule” undermining health care nondiscrimination protections contained in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), filed a motion for summary judgment calling on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to repeal the discriminatory rule.   The Trump-era regulation attempted to roll back express protections on the basis of sex — including pregnancy, gender identit ..read more

Over a busy and thought-provoking day, the American Journal of Law and Medicine (AJLM) symposium on  Preventive Care Law & Policy: Evolving Issues and Potential Consequences of Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra helped break down the potential impact the decision in this case could have on the American health care system. With many recommended preventive care services at risk of losing guaranteed coverage without cost-sharing if the lower court decision is upheld, the symposium looked at the case through the lenses of public policy, constitutional and administrative law, health equ ..read more

By Ellie Samuels, HLPC Clinic Student, Spring 2024 As a member of the Health Law and Policy Clinic’s Reproductive health team, I had the opportunity to attend the fourth annual Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston. The conference featured a whirlwind of events spotlighting pressing topics in reproductive health and championing technological advancements in the space. The panel event on the intersection of innovation and legislative advocacy, featuring speakers from Planned Parenthood, Wisp, the National Abortion Federation, and RHITES. Many of the panelists and presenters were medic ..read more