A federal appeals court previously ruled that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s structure made it unconstitutional.
Supreme Court justices considered on April 21 the constitutionality of a federal panel that issues mandates requiring insurers to cover preventive medical services without cost to patients.
In Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc., the justices examined a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that allows the Preventive Services Task Force to make binding recommendations about preventive medical services, such as medications and screenings.
The act, also known as the Obamacare statute, was enacted in 2010.
The task force, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), described itself as “an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine” that works “to improve the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services.”
Members of the task force are appointed by the HHS secretary.
Texas-based Braidwood Management sued over mandates that the task force approved, to which the company expressed religious objections.
The mandates cover a wide variety of treatments, including HIV prevention medicine and sexually transmitted disease screenings.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in June 2024 that the task force’s mandates were invalid because the structure of the task force violates the Constitution’s appointments clause, according to the government’s September 2024 petition.
That clause provides that the president may appoint officers to assist him in carrying out his responsibilities.
Principal officers must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but inferior officers may be appointed by the president alone, the head of an executive department, or a court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit determined that the mandates could not be upheld because the task force members were not appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The federal district court was correct to block HHS from enforcing the mandates, the circuit court stated, according to the petition.
Braidwood, which is being represented by a legal team that includes the America First Legal Foundation, also urged the Supreme Court to take up the case.
