A lawsuit challenging the ACA is using a legal argument that has not been heard by the Supreme Court in almost 90 years, according to Bloomberg.
Five things to know:
1. The challengers argue the ACA unconstitutionally lets a federal agency, advisory committee and single task force decide what preventive services and screenings insurers must cover, according to the report.
2. An administrative law principle called the non-delegation doctrine says Congress can't delegate its legislative powers to other agencies without providing an “intelligible principle” to guide the agencies’ discretion, according to Bloomberg.
3. The Supreme Court has found excessive delegation twice, both in 1935, according to Bloomberg. In both cases the determination was made because “Congress had failed to articulate any policy or standard” to confine discretion, according to the report.
4.The ACA as a whole is not at risk of being overturned, experts told Bloomberg, but the lawsuit threatens free coverage of preventive services. Enrollees may have to pay copays, deductibles, or even full price for routine screenings like mammograms, according to the report.
5. The case is before U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who ruled the ACA was unconstitutional in 2018 before the Supreme Court voted for a second time to uphold it, according to Bloomberg.