Trump administration to defend ACA preventive services mandate
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The Trump administration told the Supreme Court late Tuesday that it intends to defend the Affordable Care Act's requirement that insurers cover certain recommended preventive services at no cost to patients.
Why it matters: President Trump's past moves to dismantle ACA requirements stoked speculation in health and legal circles that he might not defend the law in a high court review.
Driving the news: The Justice Department wrote in a brief that it will maintain the Biden administration's arguments in the case, which surrounds whether employers can exclude certain covered services on religious grounds.
- At issue are cancer screenings, behavioral counseling, medications for heart disease and HIV drugs known as PrEP that private health insurers now have to cover, without cost sharing.
- 6 in 10 people, or about 100 million, used at least one preventative service covered in a typical year prior to the pandemic, per the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
Catch up quick: The Supreme Court in January agreed to review whether the coverage requirement violates the Constitution's appointments clause because it's based on the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, whose members weren't confirmed by the Senate.
- Two Christian-owned companies and several individuals sued the federal government on religious freedom grounds in 2020 over whether their employer-sponsored insurance should 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 enforcing the requirement.
- 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 ruling. The administration argued it left unclear whether insurers are legally bound to cover task force recommendations without cost-sharing.
- Trump's Justice Department wrote in its brief that there is no constitutional issue because task force members can't unilaterally render final decisions that are legally binding, and that their recommendations only have a legal effect if the HHS secretary allows them to become final.
