Cert petition: Insurance coverage for preventive health care is at risk unless Supreme Court takes action
Insurance Law
Insurance coverage for preventive care at risk unless Supreme Court acts, cert petition says
September 24, 2024, 2:30 pm CDT
The federal government is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a federal appeals court decision that could end free preventive care services provided by health insurance. (Image from Shutterstock)
The federal government is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a federal appeals court decision that could end free preventive care services provided by health insurance.
At issue is the constitutionality of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which issues recommendations on preventive care, Law Dork reports via How Appealing. The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover the top-recommended preventive care services at no cost to patients.
The Fifth U.S. The challengers include four people who offer health insurance to their families, and two businesses who provide coverage for their employees. The plaintiffs object to free coverage of HIV-prevention medication, contraception, and HPV vaccinations on religious grounds. This is according to Judge Don R. Willett’s opinion, an appointee by former President Donald Trump. The appeals court cited United States v. Arthrex, a June 2021 Supreme Court decision that said members of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board were principal officers who were unconstitutionally appointed.
The appeals court also said provisions in the law that make task force members principal officers can’t be severed from the rest of the law.
The 5th Circuit restricted an injunction against enforcement of the preventive care mandates, however, to the parties who challenged the task force. The appeals court said there was no basis to set aside agency actions that enforce task force recommendations because the challengers didn’t plead a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The government argues that the task force members are inferior officers and, if not, “the lone provision that respondents cite as unduly insulating task force members from secretarial control can be construed or severed to cure any constitutional defect.”
Supreme Court review is warranted, the government said, “because the court of appeals has held an act of Congress unconstitutional, and its legal rationale would inflict immense practical harms. Insurance coverage for preventive care without cost sharing is relied upon by millions of Americans. If the decision below is allowed to stand, it would put into question the legal obligation of insurance issuers to cover the top preventive care recommendations made by the taskforce.
