Chuck Darwin on Nostr: On Friday, the Supreme Court decided to hear a case, Braidwood Mgmt., Inc. v. ...
On Friday, the Supreme Court decided to hear a case,
Braidwood Mgmt., Inc. v. Becerra,
that will decide the constitutionality of the preventable care requirements of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.
Under the ACA, health insurers are obligated to cover preventative health services at no cost to the patient.
This includes everything from vaccines against deadly viruses
to breast and cervical cancer screenings,
to statins for heart disease.
It also notably includes HIV prevention under that umbrella—and for good reason.
Not only is it the humane thing to do,
it also saves health insurers a lot of money.
Just as it’s far cheaper to conduct a pap smear and catch cervical cancer in its early stages than it is to provide end-of-life care for those about to succumb to the disease,
so too does preventative care lessen the burden of HIV on patients, doctors, and insurers.
This particular lawsuit originated in Texas,
where a handful of Christian businessowners objected to providing the HIV prevention drug regimen known as PrEP to their employees.
One of the employers is represented by the #Stephen #Miller–led legal group "America First Lega"l,
which argued that the requirement
“promotes homosexual behavior”
and therefore violates its client’s
“religious beliefs by making him complicit in encouraging those behaviors.”
In his ruling, a Trump-appointed federal judge specifically carved out HIV prevention as a violation of the employers’ constitutional rights,
writing that the PrEP mandate “substantially burdens [their] religious exercise.”
The case then went to the conservative-leaning Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
which ruled the requirement is unconstitutional because the
"U.S. Preventative Services Task Force", or USPSTF,
which decides what preventative care services should be covered under the ACA,
is not appointed by the president and approved by Congress.
Put differently, 👉the Fifth Circuit is upset that basic medical decisions are decided by an independent volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine,
and not by a group of appointees with a political agenda.
For now, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling only applies to the Texas businessowners who have won the right to deny HIV care to their employees.
💥But if SCOTUS rules in the Christian employers’ favor, Trump will appoint members to the USPSTF,
and the Republican-majority Congress will then be allowed to confirm his choices.
The fallout of this decision would not only impact those at high risk of contracting HIV.
With public health potentially falling under the auspices of noted vaccine-cynic #Bobby #Kennedy Jr.,
parents with immune-compromised children will have another reason to worry -- that their child’s classmates aren’t up to date with their vaccines.
A woo-woo “wellness”-obsessed Department of Health and Human Services secretary could also decide that mental illnesses,
such as anxiety and depression,
are best treated with meditation and the like, and cut mental and behavioral health services from the preventative care requirement.
But the fallout from this change in command may fall most cruelly on those who live with HIV,
who have benefited from considerable medical advancement since the bad old days of Jesse Helms.
https://newrepublic.com/article/190167/supreme-court-hiv-prep-obamacare
Braidwood Mgmt., Inc. v. Becerra,
that will decide the constitutionality of the preventable care requirements of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.
Under the ACA, health insurers are obligated to cover preventative health services at no cost to the patient.
This includes everything from vaccines against deadly viruses
to breast and cervical cancer screenings,
to statins for heart disease.
It also notably includes HIV prevention under that umbrella—and for good reason.
Not only is it the humane thing to do,
it also saves health insurers a lot of money.
Just as it’s far cheaper to conduct a pap smear and catch cervical cancer in its early stages than it is to provide end-of-life care for those about to succumb to the disease,
so too does preventative care lessen the burden of HIV on patients, doctors, and insurers.
This particular lawsuit originated in Texas,
where a handful of Christian businessowners objected to providing the HIV prevention drug regimen known as PrEP to their employees.
One of the employers is represented by the #Stephen #Miller–led legal group "America First Lega"l,
which argued that the requirement
“promotes homosexual behavior”
and therefore violates its client’s
“religious beliefs by making him complicit in encouraging those behaviors.”
In his ruling, a Trump-appointed federal judge specifically carved out HIV prevention as a violation of the employers’ constitutional rights,
writing that the PrEP mandate “substantially burdens [their] religious exercise.”
The case then went to the conservative-leaning Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
which ruled the requirement is unconstitutional because the
"U.S. Preventative Services Task Force", or USPSTF,
which decides what preventative care services should be covered under the ACA,
is not appointed by the president and approved by Congress.
Put differently, 👉the Fifth Circuit is upset that basic medical decisions are decided by an independent volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine,
and not by a group of appointees with a political agenda.
For now, the Fifth Circuit’s ruling only applies to the Texas businessowners who have won the right to deny HIV care to their employees.
💥But if SCOTUS rules in the Christian employers’ favor, Trump will appoint members to the USPSTF,
and the Republican-majority Congress will then be allowed to confirm his choices.
The fallout of this decision would not only impact those at high risk of contracting HIV.
With public health potentially falling under the auspices of noted vaccine-cynic #Bobby #Kennedy Jr.,
parents with immune-compromised children will have another reason to worry -- that their child’s classmates aren’t up to date with their vaccines.
A woo-woo “wellness”-obsessed Department of Health and Human Services secretary could also decide that mental illnesses,
such as anxiety and depression,
are best treated with meditation and the like, and cut mental and behavioral health services from the preventative care requirement.
But the fallout from this change in command may fall most cruelly on those who live with HIV,
who have benefited from considerable medical advancement since the bad old days of Jesse Helms.
https://newrepublic.com/article/190167/supreme-court-hiv-prep-obamacare