The first time Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take a sledgehammer to the Affordable Care Act, they failed. The second time didn’t turn out well for the health care law’s GOP opponents, and the ACA survived the third effort, too.
Would the fourth time be the charm? Apparently not. NBC News reported:
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to an Affordable Care Act provision that set up a panel to recommend preventive care services that insurers must provide at no cost to patients. The court, split 6-3, ruled in favor of the Trump administration, which was defending the law, saying the task force members are lawfully appointed under the Constitution’s appointments clause.
For those who might benefit from a refresher about this case, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
It was a couple of years ago when Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas — a jurist who has earned a reputation as one of the judiciary’s most far-right reactionaries — blocked enforcement of the ACA’s preventative health care requirements, jeopardizing everything from cancer screenings to immunizations, prenatal services to HIV prevention, pap smears to heart disease screenings, physical therapy for seniors to lung cancer screenings.
O’Connor’s ruling was based on the idea that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which determined which health care services will be available for free to American consumers under the ACA, was improperly constructed and should not exist.
Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, generally seen as the nation’s most conservative appellate bench, predictably agreed with O’Connor and rejected the ACA’s health task force and its authority to require insurers to cover an array of preventive health interventions and screenings.
In Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc., the Supreme Court justices, including two of Donald Trump’s three appointees, didn’t buy it. NBC News’ report added:
The task force members are under the supervision of the health and human services secretary, a position held by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which addresses any concerns that it is not accountable to the executive branch, the court found in an opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This comes against a backdrop of other good news for the Affordable Care Act: The reform law’s enrollment totals have reached all-time highs, and public opinion research has found that the ACA has never been more popular. That said, congressional Republicans have included several anti-ACA provisions in the party’s domestic policy megabill, creating the most serious threat to the system since Trump and Republicans nearly repealed “Obamacare” eight years ago. Or put another way, Supreme Court justices have now passed on four different opportunities to gut the ACA, but GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill aren’t done trying just yet. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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