A federal judge in Texas- U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled on Thursday blocking the Affordable Care Act’s mandates for preventative health care from going into effect, setting up the latest legal battle over Obamacare and posing a threat to free access to preventative care which includes HIV medications, cancer screenings, and other treatments.
Preventative requirements established by a federal taskforce were illegal, according to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, because the panel’s members were not selected by the president and ratified by the Senate.
The ACA’s other preventative care requirements are still in force. The choice is applicable to Task Force recommendations made on or after March 23, 2010, the day the Affordable Care Act was officially enacted. Prior to that time, the committee had suggested a number of preventive services, but almost all have subsequently been modified or expanded.
Preventive and wellness care providers are one of the essential health benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act, so insurers must continue to cover them. Yet, in light of O’Connor’s decision, they might ask patients to foot some of the bill.
The case will probably be appealed, and the Justice Department has the right to request that O’Connor’s decision be suspended while the appeal is being heard.
The U.S. District Court prohibited insurers from making certain preventative care mandatory nationally. Businesses in Texas contested the rules on the grounds that they went against their religious convictions. The business owners who brought the lawsuit objected to the coverage of contraception and tests for STDs on the basis of their religious beliefs. Disputes over PrEP medications, which stop the spread of HIV, were also a significant issue in the case. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a medication that lowers the risk of contracting HIV while exposed.
However, the Preventative Services Task Force has added a wide range of other procedures and treatments to the list of preventive care that insurers must provide at no additional cost, such as cancer and diabetes tests.
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