By Lathan Liou (PO ‘19) On October 3, 2017, the U.K.’s National Health Service’s (NHS) Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced grand reforms to increase nurse training capacity and improve working conditions for nurses. The NHS states that it will allocate enough funding to add 5,170 nurses who will be certified in 2018. In addition, the NHS plans to financially support the increase of a new...
Allie Carter (CMC ’19) India’s Supreme Court asserted privacy as a basic right in August of 2017, formally joining the United States, Canada, South Africa, the European Union, and the United Kingdom in doing so. While privacy as a right does not have an explicit definition, it has generally initially applied to data protection and eventually incorporated the disclosure personal information...
Dina Rosin (CMC ’20) In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as “Obamacare,” required establishments selling food and beverages to post calorie counts for their products. Section 4205 of the Act calls for “nutrition labeling of standard menu items at chain restaurants.” Restaurants that have 20 or more locations in the United States are responsible for displaying calorie...
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) For the past few years under the Affordable Care Act, employers were required to provide birth control coverage in the health insurance plans they offered employees. Last Friday, however, the Trump administration rescinded that regulation as announced by the Department of Health and Human Services; starting immediately, employers can now deny contraceptive care coverage on...
By Blake Plante (PO ’19) On Sunday October 22, the four Democratic candidates for the California gubernatorial race met in front of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) for a substantive debate that explored single-payer/universal health care plans, the opioid crisis, mental health policy, right to work laws, sanctuary cities, how to gain bipartisan support, and aging in the American...
By James Dail (CMC ’20) On October 3rd, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Gill v. Whitford. At stake is whether Wisconsin state legislators acted unconstitutionally by apportioning legislative districts to favor Republicans, thus diluting the effectiveness of votes for Democrats. If the Court rules that the legislators did act unconstitutionally, the implications for the U...
Allie Carter (CMC ’19) The 1990’s in Portugal and the United States were similarly characterized by rapid rates of illicit drug use. Both countries took major action, but in starkly opposing directions. While the United States launched a second wave of the War on Drugs and devoted billions of dollars to the effort, Portugal decriminalized the use of all drugs. Further, Portugal...
Dina Rosin (CMC ’20) The United States Embassy in Israel is currently located in Tel Aviv, despite the state of Israel considering Jerusalem as its capital city. This is unusual because the U.S. typically situates embassies in capital cities and all other countries’ embassies to Israel are currently located in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is considered to be a holy city for three major religions...
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) Earlier this October, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 54 and effectively turned California into a “sanctuary state.” A reaction to President Trump’s hardline immigration rhetoric and policies, the bill limits state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities and would prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration...
By Blake Plante (PO ’19) When reactionary sanctions are the international community’s only major response to North Korea’s dash for nuclearized ICBMs, it becomes essential to evaluate the possible results of sanctions on North Korea: is it likely that sanctions will prevent Pyongyang from developing nuclear warheads? What comes next if sanctions fail? How should North Korea be engaged with...
