The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to a crucial component of the Affordable Care Act, affirming the oversight of a panel of medical experts who recommend preventive care for health insurance coverage.
This means services like lung and colon cancer screenings, HIV prevention medication, statins for heart disease, and various pregnancy screenings, which have been recommended by the panel, could continue to be covered free of charge for the 150 million Americans who have private insurance.
In the ruling, the court held that the group of independent medical experts are “inferior officers” under the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The case had challenged the structure of the panel, calling into question its authority to make recommendations for what types of preventive care insurers are required to cover.
The court reversed an appeals court decision and sent the case back down to lower courts for future proceedings. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the 6-3 majority opinion, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.
“The structure of the Task Force and the manner of appointing its officers preserve the chain of political accountability that was central to the Framers’ design of the Appointments Clause,” Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion.
