Today, in a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. The decision leaves the law intact and allows approximately 31 million individuals to keep their coverage under the ACA. The suit had been brought by several Republican-led states and the former Trump administration, and sought to have the entire law struck down.
The challengers to the law argued that since the individual mandate was no longer tied to a specific tax penalty, it had lost its legal support. They further argued that since the individual mandate was so ingrained in the other provisions of the law, the entire law should fail.
The Court did not address the merits of the law but, rather, found that the challengers lacked standing to sue. In the majority opinion, the Court found that the challenging states had not suffered any harm under the statute since the tax for failing to have coverage had been reduced to zero. Without suffering harm, the various states were not eligible to bring the suit.
If you have any questions about today’s ruling or benefits questions in general, please contact any of Graydon’s employee benefits team.
