Obamacare free preventative care rule in flux as Supreme Court reviews case

Since Obamacare was passed in 2010, most health insurers have had to cover health care screenings, tests and check-ups at no cost to patients.

The Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear arguments in a case challenging a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires private insurers to cover health care screenings, tests and checkups for free.

Experts say the court’s ruling in the case, called Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, could have sweeping consequences for patient access to preventive health care across the United States.

Since the ACA was passed in 2010, most insurers have had to cover a wide range of prevention services at no cost to patients — including cancer screenings, mammograms, statins for heart disease and HIV prevention medications.

About 150 million people are currently enrolled in private health insurance plans that cover free prevention services, according to KFF, a nonpartisan group that researches health policy issues. A KFF analysis found that 1 in 20 people — about 10 million people — received at least one prevention service in 2019.

“This is a really crucial case,” said Arthur Caplan, the head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, noting that many Americans say they can’t afford the high out-of-pocket cost of medical care. “The price will be paid in dead bodies if the court rules against.”