News Briefs: Biden Admin Strikes Deal to Preserve Preventive Coverage Mandate, for Now

The Biden administration reached a deal with the Texas company Braidwood Management to preserve the Affordable Care Act’s preventive coverage mandate while the firm’s legal challenge to that provision is litigated. In March, Texas District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that it’s unconstitutional for the ACA to require group and individual health plans to fully cover certain services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and he said requiring employer plan sponsors to cover preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the ruling in May and instructed the parties in the case to agree on how the ACA’s preventive coverage mandate should be handled as an appeal of O’Connor’s ruling proceeds. As part of the agreement — which still has to be approved by the appeals court — just the parties challenging the preventive coverage mandate may opt out of covering USPSTF-recommended services or PrEP; all other health plans must cover those services without cost sharing.

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