Hillary Schneller

  • Hosted by National Women's Law Center
  • Sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP
  • Service location Washington, District of Columbia
  • Law school Columbia Law School
  • Issue area Health Care, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights
  • Fellowship class year 2012
  • Program Design-Your-Own Fellowship

The Project

Hillary provided legal advocacy on behalf of women to address discrimination in health care, including by implementing and ensuring enforcement of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is the first federal law to include a broad-based protection against gender discrimination in health care.

The project addressed gender-based discrimination in the health care system and confronted ongoing challenges that women face in accessing and affording care. Through education, direct representation, and policy advocacy, the project focused on implementing new health reforms, including the first broad federal protection against gender discrimination in health care.

Fellowship Highlights

During her Fellowship, Hillary:

  • Led advocacy efforts on behalf of a broad coalition, including women’s rights and civil rights groups, and supported efforts by others, including the LGBTQ+ community, to set the foundation for new civil rights protections in health care under the ACA—the first federal law to prohibit gender discrimination in federally-assisted and federally-conducted health programs and activities
  • Filed five gender discrimination complaints under Section 1557 with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services against institutions that exclude pregnancy coverage from health benefits
  • Filed 10 complaints against major insurers that charge women 20 to 40 percent more than men for the same long-term care insurance policies
  • Drafted comments on OCR’s first Section 1557 regulatory action, which sought critical information about the protections Section 1557 provides and how it should be enforced
  • Conducted substantial legal research and analysis to support comments by the National Women’s Law Center and its coalition partners
  • Acted as a resource for and provided technical assistance to state and national advocates, including evaluating issues of discrimination in health care and developing responses

Next Steps

Hillary is a Legal Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York City.

Media

From the JANE Collective to the Post-Dobbs Health and Legal Landscape

The First Anniversary of the Overturning of Roe v Wade: Carol Sanger in Conversation With Hillary Schneller

Women’s Health Organization shares legal insights on the fight for abortion access

What it was like at the Supreme Court during Mississippi abortion case arguments

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