The Supreme Court agrees that South Carolina can refund planned parent-child relationships
In a ruling 6-3, the Supreme Court said that Medicaid patients cannot sue their right to choose their own physician.
The U.S. Supreme Court preserved key elements of the Affordable Care Act that ensures health insurance companies cover preventive care for patients for free.
The judge overturned a lower court’s decision that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which plays a major role in choosing which services are covered under the 2010 law, consists of members who were not effectively appointed.
The lawsuit began in Texas, claiming that two Christian-owned businesses and individuals do not need to cover medical tests or drugs opposed on religious grounds, such as preparing HIV preventive medications. However, the legal question at the heart of the Supreme Court case was whether, under the Constitution, its members must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, because the task force is so strong.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote that for the 6-3 majority, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., can freely remove members of the task force and review recommendations before they become effective.
“Members of the task force are freely removable by the HHS secretaries and their recommendations can be reviewed by the secretaries before they are enacted,” he wrote. “Therefore, members of the task force are supervised and directed by the Director, and the Commander will answer the President who will maintain the Commander.”
The Secretary of Health and Human Services has always appointed task force members and ratified their recommendations, said Marybeth Musmesi, who teaches associate professor of health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
However, the ruling extended its authority by making it clear that secretaries could remove members and block recommendations, she said.
Kennedy recently fired all 17 former members of the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices, and on another panel of experts publishing health recommendations, Musmesi said there was “reason for concern.”
The secretary never removed access to preventive services proven to help people stay healthy and “since in some way we tried to shape our expert panel membership,” Task Force Chair Dr. Michael Silverstein said in a statement emailed to USA Today.
“HHS secretaries have long been authorized against the USPSTF, but historically they have been acting to increase access to preventive care. “Given their focus on cancer and chronic disease prevention, I certainly hope that secretaries will not be hampered by our current work as they have done.”
Katherine Hempstead, senior policy director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health nonprofit, praised the High Court’s decision as it means millions of Americans still have access to preventive care, including mental health screening, cancer screening, STI testing and critical medications.
However, she also called this domination “both the ending and the beginning.”
“It’s the end of the challenge, but now it’s the beginning of something unfolding to see someone control this panel of experts who have a very strong opinion on many aspects of healthcare,” she said.
If Kennedy plans to target the Preventive Services Task Force, it is unclear what risks the Preventive Services will be exposed to, Musumeci said. However, the insurance company will ultimately make a final decision. Even if the secretary rejects a new recommendation or cancels an existing one, the insurance company may decide to cover preventive services.
According to a statement sent in an email to USA Today, the American Health Insurance Plan, the trade association representing health insurance companies, will closely monitor legal proceedings, but the court’s ruling confirms that it will not affect existing coverage.
Contributors: Maureen Groppe and Bart Jansen, USA Today; Reuters.
Adrianna Rodriguez can visit adrodriguez@usatoday.com.
