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Ebola: Democratic Republic of Congo

Description: This report discusses an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 8, 2018. As of June 10, 2018, WHO reported a total of 55 cases, including 28 deaths.
Date: July 25, 2018
Creator: Salaam-Blyther, Tiaji & Chavers, Monyai L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Ebola Outbreak: Quarantine and Isolation Authority

Description: This legal sidebar discusses recent quarantine policies announced by several states, including New York and New Jersey, for travelers arriving from areas affected by the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease, which have raised legal and constitutional questions about federal and state authority to order quarantine and isolation measures.
Date: October 28, 2014
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ebola: Selected Legal Issues

Description: Several West African countries are currently grappling with an unprecedented outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Here in the United States, where Ebola is not endemic, a handful of EVD cases have been diagnosed, and domestic transmission of the virus has occurred in only two cases to date. This report provides a brief overview of selected legal issues regarding measures to prevent transmission of Ebola virus and the civil rights of individuals affected by the disease.
Date: December 16, 2014
Creator: Cole, Jared P.; Perry, Rodney M.; Dolan, Alissa M.; Shimabukuro, Jon O.; Garcia, Michael J.; Smith, Jane M. et al.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Eligibility and Determination of Health Insurance Premium Tax Credits and Cost-Sharing Subsidies: In Brief

Description: Certain individuals without access to subsidized health insurance coverage may be eligible for premium tax credits, as established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA; P.L. 111-148, as amended). This report examines these tax credits and their eligibility requirements, as well as cost-sharing subsidies.
Date: March 23, 2016
Creator: Fernandez, Bernadette
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Department Boarding of Behavioral Health Patients

Description: This report outlines emergency department (ED) boarding of behavioral health (BH) patients and highlights areas for research and discusses policy options Congress may consider to reduce BH patient boarding. Behavioral health refers to patients with psychiatric and/or substance use disorders. Boarding refers to the holding of inpatients in an ED after an admission or transfer decision has been made.
Date: July 19, 2018
Creator: Heisler, Elayne J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Employment-Based Health Coverage and Health Reform: Selected Legal Considerations

Description: It is estimated that nearly 170 million individuals have employer-based health coverage. As part of a comprehensive health care reform effort, there has been support (including from the Obama Administration) in enacting comprehensive health insurance reform that retains the employer-based system. This report presents selected legal considerations inherent in amending two of the primary federal laws governing employer-sponsored health care: the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and… more
Date: June 12, 2009
Creator: Staman, Jennifer & Liu, Edward C.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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End-of-Life Care: Services, Costs, Ethics, and Quality of Care

Description: This report provides information on various aspects of end-of-life care: (1) demographic and historical changes affecting death and dying in the United States (2) the definitions of end-of-life, palliative, and hospice care (3) costs associated with end-of-life care (4) end-of-life care laws and ethics (5) quality of care at the end of life and (6) policy issues that would modify or expand the federal government's role in addressing end-of-life care.
Date: February 23, 2009
Creator: Colello, Kirsten J.; Mulvey, Janemarie; Sarata, Amanda K.; Williams, Erin D. & Thomas, Kenneth R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules

Description: This report discusses enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) administrative simplification provisions by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), and provides an overview of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification Enforcement Rule.
Date: August 11, 2008
Creator: Stevens, Gina Marie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors: What Are the Human Health Risks?

Description: This report discusses the human health risks, specifically from endocrine disruptors that are chemical compounds in drugs, food, consumer products, or the ambient environment that can interfere with internal biological processes of animals that normally are regulated by their hormones.
Date: February 4, 2002
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo & Buck, Eugene H.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ergonomics in the Workplace: Is It Time for an OSHA Standard?

Description: This report debates implementing an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standard for ergonomics. This standard would be motivated by the fact that one third of state employer's costs are related to improper ergonomic design causing illness. The report details that standards suggested in the past have been rejected by Congress.
Date: May 7, 2002
Creator: Rappaport, Edward
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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ERISA Regulation of Health Plans: Fact Sheet

Description: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA, P.L. 93-406) places the regulation of employee benefit plans (including health plans) primarily under federal jurisdiction for about 124 million people. ERISA’s treatment of health plans is both complicated and confusing. ERISA has been interpreted as dividing health plans into two groups regulated differently under the law: about 54 million people are covered by self-insured plans for which the employer, rather than an insurer, assume… more
Date: August 18, 2001
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda Ripps
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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ERISA Regulation of Health Plans: Fact Sheet

Description: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA, P.L. 93-406) places the regulation of employee benefit plans (including health plans) primarily under federal jurisdiction for about 124 million people. ERISA’s treatment of health plans is both complicated and confusing. ERISA has been interpreted as dividing health plans into two groups regulated differently under the law: about 54 million people are covered by self-insured plans for which the employer, rather than an insurer, assume… more
Date: March 6, 2003
Creator: Chaikind, Hinda Ripps
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Excise Tax on High-Cost Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage: In Brief

Description: This report provides an overview of the excise tax. The report includes cost estimates for the excise tax and explores the excise tax's relationship with the tax advantages for employer-sponsored health coverage. The information in this report is based on statute and two notices issued by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Date: March 24, 2016
Creator: Mach, Annie L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB): Emerging Public Health Threats and Quarantine and Isolation

Description: This report the international saga of Andrew Speaker, a traveler thought to have XDR-TB, a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, placed a spotlight on existing mechanisms to contain contagious disease threats and raised numerous legal and public health issues. It also discusses the application of various public health measures available to contain an emerging public health threat posed by an individual who ignores medical advice and attempts to board an airplane or take other forms of public tra… more
Date: November 26, 2010
Creator: Swendiman, Kathleen S. & Jones, Nancy Lee
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Factors Affecting the Demand for Long-Term Care Insurance: Issues for Congress

Description: This report will discuss the role of long-term care insurance (LTCI) in financing long term care (LTC) costs and current trends in the LTCI industry; factors affecting the demand for LTCI, including cost and complexity of the product and adequacy of consumer protections; and key features of legislative proposals in the 111th Congress to address these issues.
Date: May 27, 2009
Creator: Mulvey, Janemarie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The False Claims Act, the Allison Engine Decision, and Possible Effects on Health Care Fraud Enforcement

Description: The False Claims Act (FCA), an important tool for combating fraud against the U.S. government, generally provides that a person who knowingly submits, or causes to be submitted, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the U.S. government may be subject to civil penalties and damages. This report provides an overview of the FCA and the Allison Engine decision, analyzes how this decision could affect certain FCA health care claims, and discusses the proposed False Claims Correction Acts (S. 20… more
Date: November 6, 2008
Creator: Staman, Jennifer
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Family Planning: Title X of the Public Health Service Act

Description: This report discusses Title X of the Public Health Service Act provides support for family planning clinics, research related to family planning and population, training of family planning personnel, and development and dissemination of family planning information.
Date: March 24, 1988
Creator: Cislowski, Joseph A
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal and State Quarantine and Isolation Authority

Description: This report provides an overview of federal and state public health laws as they relate to the quarantine and isolation of individuals, a discussion of constitutional issues that may be raised should individual liberties be restricted in a quarantine situation, and federalism questions that may arise where federal and state authorities overlap. In addition, the possible role of the armed forces in enforcing public health measures is discussed, specifically whether the Posse Comitatus Act would … more
Date: August 16, 2006
Creator: Swendiman, Kathleen S. & Elsea, Jennifer K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Drug Price Negotiation: Implications for Medicare Part D

Description: This report discusses what it means for the federal government to “negotiate” drug prices under existing public programs, the arguments for and against such activities, and some implications for the pharmaceutical industry, Medicare beneficiaries, and others if similar federal involvement were to occur on behalf of the Medicare Part D program.
Date: April 19, 2007
Creator: Hahn, Jim
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP): Available Health Insurance Options

Description: This report discusses the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), a program administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is statutorily given the authority to contract with qualified carriers offering plans and to prescribe regulations necessary to carry out the statute, among other duties.
Date: November 13, 2013
Creator: Mach, Annie L. & Cornell, Ada S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP): Available Health Insurance Options

Description: This report discusses the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), a program administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is statutorily given the authority to contract with qualified carriers offering plans and to prescribe regulations necessary to carry out the statute, among other duties.
Date: February 13, 2013
Creator: Mach, Annie L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Financial Outlook for Social Security and Medicare

Description: The 2001 annual reports of the board of trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds were released on March 19, 2001. Both programs have benefitted from an improved economic outlook in the near term, but both continue to have projected long-range problems. Insolvency for the Disability Insurance (DI) part of Social Security is projected to occur in 2026, and for the retirement and survivors part, in 2040.
Date: March 19, 2001
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart & Kollmann, Geoffrey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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