Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined forces with a coalition of 23 attorneys general in a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to safeguard a vital provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that ensures access to essential preventive care for millions. The coalition seeks to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc., which challenged the constitutionality of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Before the ACA was implemented, many Americans could not afford preventive services like cancer screenings. To address this, the ACA requires most private insurance plans to cover preventive services recommended by the task force without out-of-pocket costs. These include copayments and deductibles.
Attorney General Brown emphasized the importance of preventive care, stating, “Preventive care gives Marylanders the chance to live long, healthy lives. No one should be denied lifesaving protection against serious and deadly diseases just because they can’t afford to pay for it.”
The brief argues that the Fifth Circuit’s decision misunderstands the constitutional structure of the task force, which is appointed and overseen by the secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services. It warns that striking down the provision could leave a considerable gap in health coverage—a gap that states are powerless to fill due to federal restrictions on regulating certain insurance plans.
Since the ACA’s inception in 2010, the preventive service provision has notably enhanced public health outcomes, expanded access to preventive services, and substantially reduced health disparities across socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups. As of 2020, around 151.6 million Americans benefited from these no-cost preventive services.
Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin have joined Brown in this legal effort.
