Obamacare’s No-Cost Preventive Care At Risk As Supreme Court Hears Challenge

Preventive care health benefits provided at no cost to tens of millions of Americans since 2010 under a popular provision of the Affordable Care Act are in the balance Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices consider whether the government task force behind the mandate to insurers is unconstitutional.

Among the services the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force designates for no-cost coverage under the federal health law are statins to lower cholesterol; colonoscopies for 45- to 49-year-olds; preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medicine to reduce the spread of HIV; medications to lower the risk of breast cancer for women; and lung cancer screenings for smokers.

The case was brought by a group of employers and individuals who oppose some of the task force’s recommendations for covered services on religious groups, specifically the PrEP medication to prevent HIV.

They allege the group’s structure violates the Constitution and lower federal courts agreed.

If the justices uphold the decisions, the task force and its recommendations since 2010 could be invalidated — and along with them the guarantee of no-cost preventive services coverage many people enjoy.

“The case is not the kind of existential threat that we have seen in previous Supreme Court cases involving the ACA, but it’s certainly something that could affect a lot of people,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president at KFF, a nonpartisan health policy group.

More here