The judge’s ruling is against the U.S. health law

The Texas Supreme Court Overturned a Law that Eliminates the Coverage of Preventive Services to Cover the Cost of Health Care in the U.S.

A federal judge in Texas said Thursday that some Affordable Care Act mandates cannot be enforced nationwide, including those that require insurers to cover a wide array of preventive care services at no cost to the patient, including some cancer, heart and STD screenings, and smoking cessation programs.

In the new ruling, US District Judge Reed O’Connor struck down the recommendations that have been issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force, which is tasked with determining some of the preventive care treatments that Obamacare requires to be covered.

The case will probably be appealed, and the Justice Department has the option of asking O’Connor to suspend his ruling while the appeal is pending.

Andrew Twinamatsiko is an associate director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. Most people sensitive to cost go without, mostly poor people.

The Biden administration had told the court that the outcome of the case “could create extraordinary upheaval in the United States’ public health system.” It is likely to appeal.

O’Connor ruled that religious beliefs were violated by the requirement that coverage of the HIV vaccine be paid for. That decision also undercut the broader system that determines which preventive drugs are covered in the U.S., ruling that a federal task force that recommends coverage of preventive treatments is unconstitutional.

Over contraception has been a sticking point in previous challenges to President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The Biden administration and more than 20 states, controlled by Democrats, urged O’Connor to reject a ruling that would eliminate the preventive care coverage requirement entirely.

Millions of Americans have depended on the preventative services provisions to obtain no-cost preventive care in order to improve their own health and welfare according to a court filing.

The lawsuit is among the attempts by conservatives to chip away at the Affordable Care Act — or wipe it out entirely — since it was signed into law in 2010. The Texas abortion law that the Supreme Court overturned in June was the brainchild of a lawyer who filed the suit.