News & Insights

The $2 trillion-plus Coronavirus response law, along with two other pandemic-related funding bills earlier this month, provide for a vast array of new federally-funded programs and policies aimed at helping individuals and families battered by a global pandemic and harmed by the economic downturn precipitated by our broad-based public health response. An overarching public health framework can guide the shared work of federal, state and local agencies to implement these new policies and programs.

The COVID-19 outbreak occurring in the United States and in many other countries has profound implications for mental health. Just as public health is leading the way to protect physical health in the context of COVID-19, public health can take steps to promote mental health and community resilience. While public health has emergency isolation, quarantine, and social distancing powers, taking small steps where consistent with good public health practice can support mental well-being.

This real-time session centers on the legal and policy challenges faced by counties, cities, and other localities, as well as their departments of health and emergency management, across an array of public health powers and issues.

The medications methadone and buprenorphine are extremely effective in reducing the harms associated with opioid use disorder. In light of the ongoing public health emergency associated with COVID-19 the federal government has recently taken a number of steps to increase access to these lifesaving medications.

Workers who are sick and one paycheck away from not being able to pay rent are more likely to go to work, potentially exposing others in their workplace and on public transportation to COVID-19. In response, just in the past week, several jurisdictions have taken innovative steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by instituting policies designed to ensure that people can stay in their homes.

A lawsuit arguing for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is making its way to the Supreme Court. One of the lesser-known provisions of the ACA enacted the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) which provides key health care provisions intended to benefit Native populations. The loss of the IHCIA would significantly set back efforts to address health disparities.

Emerging medical research suggests an array of harms from dysfunctional use of social media, including social isolation and loneliness. Rapid advancement of information technology and the near-ubiquitous use of social media have led to calls for public health research to better assess benefits and harms. As we learn more, what role might public health policy play in mediating the harmful effects of social media use?

To address the legal and policy barriers that hamper the establishment and expansion of evidence-based harm reduction measures, the Network for Public Health Law has launched the Harm Reduction Legal Project with support from Arnold Ventures.

Public health law and policy stories that made headlines recently include expanding Medicaid access post-postpartum to improve maternal mortality rates; how changes in naloxone access laws could save thousands of lives; Juul’s suspension of flavored e-cigarette product sales amid growing scrutiny of its advertising practices; how proposed food-stamp cutbacks could worsen obesity and food insecurity in the U.S.; and a landmark ruling on supervised injection sites.

Hundreds of public health and legal experts have signed an open letter detailing a series of recommendations for government officials to consider through new legislation, policies, leadership and spending in response to the widespread transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus within the U.S.

Eviction can trap families and individuals in cycles of poverty by limiting their housing options and pushing them into substandard housing or homelessness, leading to a multitude of poor physical and mental health outcomes. Eviction also disproportionally impacts people of color and poor people. Laws providing for the expungement of eviction records may help to mitigate the harmful consequences of eviction and improve access to housing.

The Network seeks an experienced diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant to conduct an organizational assessment that provides a better understanding of current policies, culture, and practices with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 13, 2020 by 5:00 pm central standard time.