Nearly 13 years after the Supreme Court first upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional, the justices will hear arguments Monday on a case that could unravel parts of the law that require coverage for cancer and diabetes screenings, mental health counseling, medication to prevent HIV and other preventive health care services.
Backers of the law say removing those requirements could be catastrophic. But the court is unlikely to hear much about that from the Trump administration, even as it defends the provisions in Kennedy v. Braidwood.
“There’s been less affirmative talk about the value of the preventive services now,” Katherine Hempstead, senior policy officer at the health-equity nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said at a press call last week.