On November 8, Emily Savner ‘13 of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation testified at a regional listening session convened by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The session was convened to elicit comments from individuals and groups about the health services that should be included in the soon-to-be created Essential Health Benefits package mandated through health care reform. Once finalized and implemented by HHS, the Essential Health Benefits package will provide a federally mandated set of health services to millions of currently uninsured Americans through both Medicaid and newly-created subsidized private health insurance plans.
HLS Clinical Professor Robert Greenwald, director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, said: “Definition of the Essential Health Benefits package is one of the most significant health care reform implementation items, and students and staff in the HLS Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation have been actively engaged in advocacy efforts to ensure that the package meets the care and treatment needs of vulnerable populations with chronic conditions. Emily has been involved in our state and federal work around this issue and has contributed outstanding research and analysis that we hope will aid state and federal policy makers as they implement health care reform.”
Savner’s testimony, developed in collaboration with more than 100 organizational members of the national HIV Health Care Access Working Group, is part of the Health Law and Policy Innovation Center efforts to ensure that the EHB package will meet the complex and important health care needs of vulnerable populations such as people living with HIV and AIDS as well as other chronic conditions.