States of Health

In 1932 U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously compared individual states to laboratories trying ‘novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.’ States of Health comprehensively examines the ways in which federalism in health care sometimes makes both our physical health and democracy sicker. From the spread of pandemics to travel for abortion, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what ails U.S. health care and how to fix it. * I. Glenn Cohen, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Harvard Law School *
This remarkable volume explores the operation of federalism in the United States and its effect on bioethics and healthcare. It includes meticulous historical context and examination of the strengths and weaknesses of our system of divided government. The authors argue that American federalism has both led to useful outcomes for many health-related challenges and impeded integrated national responses to exigent failures in equity, inequality, and public health for all citizens. From the impact of evolving technology to consideration of current moral and cultural debates about end-of-life decisions, reproductive justice, gender identity, healthcare, and abortion, profound questions are deftly articulated and explored. * Christine Durham, Chief Justice Utah Supreme Court (ret.); Senior of Counsel, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati *
The book provides a comprehensive examination of health policy issues confronting the federal system and an overview of programs and policies involved in implementing these policies. The book is essential for all scholars studying federalism. This book would be good for classes on federalism, but students would need to be warned that the authors infuse their political opinions throughout the book. * C. Kinsella, CHOICE *
…[A] fresh, comprehensive, and vitally important guide to topics that make people very angry but are rarely well understood or presented in a way that is understandable. It is clearly the work of scholars who have reflected not just on the issues but also on how to communicate them in a way that will make sense to everybody, from students to lawyers to social scientists… States of Health, in short, is a first-rate book on a topic that has attracted far more opinionation than coherent thought. As such, it is a vital contribution to bioethics that might make their insights more useful to others, a thoughtful and systematic guide to just how federalism shapes bioethics, and a source of excellent new questions about how America’s rickety federal system operates and might change. * Publius: The Journal of Federalism *

Leslie P. Francis

Distinguished Alfred C. Emery Professor of Law, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Center for Law & Biomedical Sciences at the University of Utah. She has been president of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association; co-chair of the Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security committee of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics; and a member of the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Ethics.

John G. Francis

Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Utah. He publishes in the areas of comparative public policy and electoral politics, regulation, federalism, industrial policy, British electoral choice, and expanding voting access. His comparative work on American and European politics spans topics from environmental policy to health policies such as the trade in organs, HIV testing, and vaccinations for athletes.

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