WASHINGTON (June 25, 2025)--On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc., upholding the constitutionality of the provision of the Affordable Care Act that mandates cost-free insurance coverage of preventive services recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force. The ACA extends this benefit to virtually all privately-insured Americans. The decision removes an existential threat to the future of such coverage, which includes such lifesaving care as breast and cervical cancer screening, diabetes screening, preventive treatments to avert heart disease, preventive screening and treatments for pregnant women, and preexposure prophylaxis treatment for people living with HIV. Had the statutory provision been found unconstitutional, insurers and health benefit plans would have been free to either eliminate coverage entirely or impose cost sharing as a condition of coverage, placing access to scores of benefits at risk. Cost-sharing has been shown to significantly reduce access to preventive care.
In their brief to the Court, a public health coalition including 115 public health and health policy Deans and scholars, the American Public Health Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Trust for America’s Health, presented evidence regarding the importance of the Task Force’s recommendations to patients and public health systems and about the serious adverse public health consequences of losing coverage for these critical services.
“We are grateful and relieved that the Court has protected access to these benefits,” said Lynn Goldman, Dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. “We urge HHS to both preserve and expand these benefits in order to further improve access to health care and strengthen our country’s public health.”
Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, added, “These benefits are vital to the nation’s public health. They represent one of the Affordable Care Act’s most important achievements. The public health community will be deeply engaged around how Secretary Kennedy uses the immense powers granted him under the law as described in the Braidwood decision. Our focus has only increased, given the Secretary’s highly troubling recent decisions that threaten access to lifesaving vaccines.”
The amici were represented by Andrew Pincus, counsel of record, Mayer Brown LLP. A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.