SCOTUS to review ACA preventive services mandate
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The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a challenge to the Affordable Care Act's requirement that insurers cover certain recommended preventive services at no cost.
Why it matters: Eliminating the requirement could limit access to services like cancer screenings, preventive medications for heart disease, behavioral health counseling and HIV drugs known as PrEP.
- The timing of the high court review puts the legal defense of the ACA mandate in the hands of the incoming Trump administration.
Zoom in: The case takes up whether the coverage requirement, based on the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, is invalid because the panel lacked authority since its members weren't Senate-confirmed.
- Two Christian-owned companies and several individuals sued the federal government on religious freedom grounds in 2020 over the requirement that their employer-sponsored insurance cover no-cost preventive medicines for HIV.
- A federal judge in Texas in 2022 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and blocked the government from requiring insurers to provide free coverage of recommended services.
- The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year agreed with some of the arguments but overturned the nationwide injunction, only blocking the requirement for the companies and individuals who brought the case.
The Biden administration and the challengers each asked the Supreme Court to review that mixed ruling. The administration argued it called into question insurers' legal duty to cover task force recommendations without cost-sharing.
- Allowing employers to exclude PrEP over religious objections could open the door to objections over other covered services, including vaccines, KFF has noted.
