Higher courts are likely to strike down, at least in part, the ACA's provisions requiring preventive care coverage, healthcare attorneys say.
Earlier in September, a Texas judge sided with a company, Braidwood Management, that said providing HIV prevention drugs to its employees violated its religious freedom. The ruling could spell the end of preventive care requirements, but a final ruling could take years to reach with further appeals expected.
In a deep dive into the legal reason behind the case published Sept. 23 in Health Affairs, attorneys for firm Epstein Becker and Green say if the case makes it to higher courts, or eventually the U.S. Supreme Court, these judges will likely review the constitutionality of the ACA's preventive care requirements.
"The current [Supreme] Court is apt to restrain Congress's ability to farm out work that a majority of the justices view as the province of legislatures to the federal agencies or advisory committees," the attorneys wrote. "Therefore, the ACA's preventive services coverage requirement faces a near certain path to some degree of judicial curtailment."
Read the full opinion here.