The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating some of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) no-cost coverage requirements for preventive care services. This decision comes after an appeals court ruled in favor of a Christian business that argued some requirements would compel it to violate its religious convictions.
In an orders list released on Friday, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case of Becerra v. Braidwood MGMT., Inc., et al. This means the court will examine the constitutionality of several preventive care coverage requirements under the ACA that a lower court had previously overturned.
Under the ACA, enacted in 2010, most private insurance plans are required to cover recommended preventive care services at no cost to the insured. Braidwood Management, a Christian-owned business that self-insures over 70 employees, along with six individuals in Texas, challenged the law, asserting that the requirements to cover pre-exposure prophylaxis and medication for HIV prevention violate their religious beliefs.
The plaintiffs argued in court filings that such drugs “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior.” They also opposed mandated coverage of contraceptives that they claimed might “induce abortions.”
Federal officials appealed after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in June, following an earlier decision by a Texas district court that had also sided with them.
The district court ruled that all preventive care mandates authorized since 2010 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force were unconstitutional, finding that the members of the task force, who set these coverage rules, were not nominated by the president and approved by the Senate, thus violating the appointments clause.
The 5th Circuit narrowed this ruling, stating it did not universally block every mandate but only protected the specific business and individuals involved in the suit from complying with the affected coverage requirements while leaving those regulations intact elsewhere.
Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the 5th Circuit panel’s majority opinion, “With respect to one of the challenged administrative bodies, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, we agree that the unreviewable power it wields — the power to issue preventive-care recommendations that insurers must cover by law — renders its members principal officers of the United States who have not been validly appointed under Article II of the United States Constitution.”
After this ruling, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services filed an appeal. This case represents the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, which has encountered numerous legal disputes since its inception. Notably, there was a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2012 that upheld the statute's overall framework.
Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, it has been subjected to over 2,000 legal challenges in state and federal courts, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
