Supreme Court to Review Affordable Care Act's Preventative Care Coverage Requirements

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced its decision to take on a challenge to a specific provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which mandates insurance companies to provide certain types of preventive care at no cost to consumers. This landmark legislation, championed by President Obama, has already withstood three significant legal challenges in the past.

New Challenge to Preventive Care Provision

The fresh legal challenge is aimed at the task force responsible for determining which treatments are covered under the ACA. This task force has designated certain services as mandatory for insurance coverage, including screenings for cancer and diabetes, statin medications to mitigate the risk of heart disease and strokes, physical therapy for older adults to prevent falls, and eye ointment for newborns to avert infections that could lead to blindness.

Savings Lives Through Coverage Requirements

The Biden administration informed the justices that the requirement for coverage of lung cancer screenings alone is responsible for saving over 10,000 lives annually. This statistic underscores the significant impact of the ACA's preventive care provisions on public health.