AARP Files Amicus Brief With Supreme Court Over ACA
AARP Files Amicus Brief With Supreme Court Over ACA Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.
AARP and AARP Foundation joined two other nonprofit groups that fight for older Americans — Justice in Aging and the Center for Medicare Advocacy — in asking the high court to review a December 2019 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. That decision struck down the ACA’s individual mandate but left the fate of the rest of the law in the hands of a lower court judge who has already declared the entire law invalid. While the justices declined to fast-track an appeal, the Supreme Court could decide to hear the case at a later time. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. The brief makes clear that even after it decided to eliminate the penalty for Americans who choose not to buy health insurance, members of Congress did not intend to strip out all the other benefits of the law. The document quotes Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former senator and Finance Committee chairman, as saying that “repealing the tax does not take anyone’s health insurance away.” Hatch added that no one would lose the federal subsidies that help them pay for coverage or be “kicked off Medicare” or lose the guarantees of coverage for preexisting conditions. Without the law’s protections, the brief says, 4 out of 10 adults ages 50 to 64 — about 25 million people — could be denied health coverage because they have a preexisting condition.
“Because of the Act [ACA], millions of older adults now have access to health care,” the brief says. “The Fifth Circuit’s decision threatens to take away their health care at a time when they need it most.”
Supreme Court Says No to Fast Review of ACA Ruling
Health law protections remain intact for now
Getty Images The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a federal court ruling that said a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. The high court’s refusal on Tuesday to fast-track a review means all the protections of the ACA remain in force but the long-term status of the law remains uncertain.AARP and AARP Foundation joined two other nonprofit groups that fight for older Americans — Justice in Aging and the Center for Medicare Advocacy — in asking the high court to review a December 2019 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. That decision struck down the ACA’s individual mandate but left the fate of the rest of the law in the hands of a lower court judge who has already declared the entire law invalid. While the justices declined to fast-track an appeal, the Supreme Court could decide to hear the case at a later time. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. The brief makes clear that even after it decided to eliminate the penalty for Americans who choose not to buy health insurance, members of Congress did not intend to strip out all the other benefits of the law. The document quotes Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former senator and Finance Committee chairman, as saying that “repealing the tax does not take anyone’s health insurance away.” Hatch added that no one would lose the federal subsidies that help them pay for coverage or be “kicked off Medicare” or lose the guarantees of coverage for preexisting conditions. Without the law’s protections, the brief says, 4 out of 10 adults ages 50 to 64 — about 25 million people — could be denied health coverage because they have a preexisting condition.
“Because of the Act [ACA], millions of older adults now have access to health care,” the brief says. “The Fifth Circuit’s decision threatens to take away their health care at a time when they need it most.”