Anti-Obamacare judge trying to get rid of certain types of American free preventive care… including screenings

The decision, by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, applies nationwide. If it stands, it could have far-reaching implications for millions of Americans, and bring the United States back to the days before the 2010 health law known as Obamacare, when insurers were free to decide which preventive services they would cover.

The ruling, which is in the form of a nationwide injunction, takes effect immediately, said Lawrence O. Gostin, an expert on health policy at Georgetown University who has followed the case. It will affect a long list of preventive care services, he said, including services like screenings for heart disease, pap smears and tobacco cessation services.

“It might be that tomorrow, a woman might wake up and find that her mammogram is not covered,” Mr. Gostin said, adding, “I think we forget what it was like before the Affordable Care Act, where we had to pay and it was unaffordable for basic primary health care services.”

The Biden administration is likely to appeal the ruling and ask for a stay of the injunction. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services were reviewing the decision….

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The lead plaintiff in the case is Braidwood Management; the company’s owner, Dr. Steven F. Hotze, is a well-known Republican donor and Houston doctor who has previously challenged the Affordable Care Act. The plaintiffs argued that a volunteer panel of experts that issues binding recommendations on what preventive care must be covered under the law violated the Constitution because its members are not appointed by the president or confirmed by the Senate….

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Thursday’s ruling comes just a week after the 13th anniversary of President Barack Obama’s signing the measure into law. In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the bulk of the law but struck down its requirement that states expand Medicaid. In 2018, Judge O’Connor ruled that the entire law was unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court later overruled him….

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