Seton Hall Announces Summer Study Abroad International Health Law Program

Seton Hall University School of Law’s Leuven-Geneva Program in Health, Intellectual Property and International Law combines a broad-based introduction to the laws, policies and institutions of the European Union (EU) with a unique, interdisciplinary examination of cutting-edge issues in intellectual property, pharmaceutical development and global public health.

The Program will consist of two courses. European Union Law, a two-credit course, will be taught mainly at the Leuven Institute in  Leuven, Belgium and will include a special trip to Luxembourg to visit the European Court of Justice. Students will also visit some of the main EU institutions in Brussels, such as the European Parliament and Commission.

The goal of this part of the Program is to introduce students to the essential principles and institutions of the EU and to explore firsthand the challenges facing this unique confederation of different languages and cultures. For the Geneva component of the Program, students will study Health and Intellectual Property Law in a Global Environment, a four-credit course, co-taught by one intellectual property law professor and one health law professor.  The course will be conducted in collaboration with Geneva-based international organizations involved in health and intellectual property law issues, including the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Students will work on a series of case studies related to the work of these organizations, both in the classroom and in on-site meetings with organizational representatives. In addition to students from the Seton Hall Program, the Geneva component of the Program will also be open to students from the University of Zurich Ph.D. program in Biomedical Ethics and Law.

More information about the program is available here: http://law.shu.edu/Students/academics/studyabroad/Geneva/index.cfm

Market Competition in Health Care: The EU’s Parallel Struggle

Last week, I took a break from U.S. health reform and attended a fascinating conference on Health Care and EU Law at Radboud University in the Netherlands.  It gave me the chance to step back and revisit a struggle common to most health care systems — the appropriate role for market competition.  Without drawing too many parallels here, the view from 30,000 feet confirms that like the United States, European health care systems (varied as they are) must decide the extent to which health care is an economic, commercial product versus a non-economic, public good.

In Europe, this tension is generated by the European Union’s internal common market of 27 member states.  European law — enunciated through treaties, directives, regulations, and decisions by the European Court of Justice — prohibits states from restricting the free movement of goods, persons, and services within the EU, and bans anti-competitive or protectionist arrangements.

But is health care a commercial product subject to these market rules?  Or can member states control their health care systems without worrying whether it restricts free movement or is anti-competitive?  Although EU law says that states shall retain responsibility for managing services of general interest like health care and social security, case law has bounded this authority in several high-profile free movement and competition cases.  For example, a series of court opinions has held that member states have limited authority to prevent their residents from traveling to other member states for health care, or even to require prior authorization before reimbursing for that care back in the home state. Read more