11 Feb Status of Court Case Challenging ACA Constitutionality

Status of Court Case Challenging ACA Constitutionality

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Appeals Court) held that the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional this past December, a decision that currently does not impact employers’ group health plans. Read this blog post from UBA to learn more.

As background, in 2018, 20 states filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas (District Court) to strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) entirely. The lawsuit came after the U.S. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) that reduced the individual mandate penalty to $0, starting in 2019.

On December 14, 2018, the District Court issued a declaratory order that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. The District Court found that the individual mandate is unconstitutional without the penalty and that the individual mandate is inseverable from the rest of the ACA. Because of its findings, the District Court declared that the individual mandate and the entire ACA – including its guaranteed issue and community rating provisions – are unconstitutional.

On December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Appeals Court) held that the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. The Appeals Court is remanding the case to the District Court for additional analysis on whether the individual mandate can be severed from the ACA. The Appeals Court is also directing the District Court to consider the government’s new arguments regarding the relief that should be provided to the plaintiff states and the two individual plaintiffs in the case.

To be clear, the Appeals Court decision does not impact employers’ group health plans at this time.

SOURCE: Hsu, K. (06 February 2020) “Status of Court Case Challenging ACA Constitutionality” (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://blog.ubabenefits.com/status-of-court-case-challenging-aca-constitutionality-1