The Next Major Challenge to the Affordable Care Act
The Supreme Court’s rejection of the latest effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act does not mark the end of lawsuits over the law’s constitutionality. The next big case has already been filed, and it involves a clash between an obscure constitutional provision and the law’s guarantee of zero-dollar coverage for preventive services.
The stakes will be lower this time around—the whole law isn’t threatened. But they’re significant nonetheless. If the plaintiffs win, insurers could force their customers to pay out of pocket for contraception, breastfeeding equipment and support, and drugs to prevent HIV infection. They could even start charging people for COVID-19 vaccines, including any boosters.
This time, the law’s opponents stand a good chance of succeeding.
The case is called , and it is currently pending in Texas before Judge Reed O’Connor—the same judge who would have struck down the entire Affordable Care Act on the theory that the Supreme Court just rejected. The plaintiffs are individuals and small companies wanting to buy insurance that excludes coverage for contraception and pre-exposure prophylaxis, which they object to on religious and moral grounds. That kind of insurance is impossible to
