(Reuters): A U.S. appeals court on Friday refused to block a federal mandate requiring health insurers to cover preventive care services like cancer screenings and HIV-preventing medication at no extra cost to patients, but ruled against the government on a key legal issue that leaves the mandate’s future in doubt.
A unanimous panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a group of Christian businesses suing to challenge the mandate that claimed that the way services were chosen for coverage violates the U.
S. Constitution. However, the panel found that U.
S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas had gone too far by blocking the mandate nationwide in March 2023, and instead blocked its enforcement only against the businesses that brought the lawsuit. O’Connor’s ruling had been on hold while the appeals court considered the case.
Major U.S. medical groups have said that eliminating the preventive care mandate would put patients at risk and increase healthcare costs.
The panel also ordered O’Connor to reconsider his decision to uphold mandatory coverage of certain vaccines and childhood screening services, which the businesses had also challenged. The panel said O’Connor had not considered some relevant legal issues, though it did not weigh in on how he should decide. While the 5th Circuit’s ruling allows the government to continue enforcing the mandate, it could provide support for other employers or insurers wishing to challenge it.
The p.
