(TruthAndLiberty.com) – On Monday, the federal appeals court is going to be hearing arguments in the appeal filed by the Biden administration in a case that could threaten the free preventative care of over 150 million people under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Last year, a Texas federal judge ruled that the law managing that insurers and employers needed to cover certain preventive services, including cancer screening and HIV prevention was against the constitution. Under this ruling, the law’s requirement requiring employers to cover the cost of an HIV preventative medicine, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), was also invalidated.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is going to be looking into whether or not the decision should be upheld. Depending on the decision it could also lead to patients being required to cover the full cost of lifesaving screenings and treatments that ACA previously afforded them for free. This could completely alter the health coverage landscape.
If the requirements are no longer in place, employers and health plans will have free rein in choosing which preventive services they are willing to cover. The cost-sharing is most likely also going to stop many patients from scheduling the procedures in question, especially if their resources are limited.
Epstein Becker Green health care attorney Richard Hughes has pointed out that everything was at stake, from screenings to medication and contraceptives. He added that this was a risk to many of the currently recommended preventive services.
The ACA previously required insurers to make available for free over 100 preventative services.
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