A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a provision of Obamacare requiring most health insurance plans to cover HIV prevention drugs for free violates employers’ religious freedom.
Judge Reed O’Connor for the Northern District of Texas sided with Braidwood Management that the provision violated the company’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, setting up what could be a lengthy legal battle to invalidate compulsory coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings and flu shots.
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The suit filed by a group of Christian business owners and employees in Texas argued that paying for coverage of preventive care, such as PrEP, a medication prescribed to prevent HIV infection, conflicts with their religious beliefs “by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” according to the lawsuit.
O’Connor, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, shot down several of Braidwood’s arguments but agreed that aspects of the federal government’s framework for deciding which preventive services are covered under the provision violate the appointments clause in the Constitution. O’Connor took issue with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention, placing broader preventive services, such as screenings for cancer and heart disease, at risk. He argued that since its members are not appointed by the president, the Department of Health and Human Services secretary does not have authority over its recommendations for what should be covered.
One of the requirements that O’Connor did uphold is a mandate for insurers to cover immunizations for infectious diseases, such as the flu or measles, for no fee.
O’Connor has yet to decide on the “appropriate remedy” for resolving the two claims he sided with.
It’s unclear if the lawsuit will only apply to other companies besides Braidwood, which employs 70 people, though the Department of Health and Human Services is likely to appeal the decision.
Without the requirement in place by the Affordable Care Act, health insurers’ coverage of preventive care, such as vaccines, cancer screenings, and more, could vary widely and may require people to foot some of the costs. Millions of people in the United States covered under their employer’s private health plans and the ACA’s individual market plans could be at risk of losing their preventive care. One of the notable medications highlighted in the lawsuit, PrEP, is found to reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by 99% when taken as prescribed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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O’Connor has presided over a number of healthcare cases. In 2018, he rendered the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, a case that rose to the Supreme Court before it upheld the act in a 7-2 decision.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the HHS for comment.
