William Walters, Associate in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Roll Call, in “Ruling Could Give Kennedy More Power Over Health Care Coverage,” by Jessie Hellmann.
Following is an excerpt:
A looming Supreme Court decision could result in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wielding more control over the body that recommends preventive health services insurers must fully cover — a possibility that alarms health advocates.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc., a case that will decide the fate of the 2010 health care law’s requirement that insurers cover preventive health services recommended by an independent task force with no cost-sharing to patients.
The Trump administration argued the task force is constitutional because the HHS secretary has the power to fire its members and reject its recommendations — a power the secretary has not exercised before.
That could set up a scenario where a secretary rejects recommendations for coverage of health services or drugs like preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which prevents HIV infection. …
The arguments Monday come as the Trump administration appears to be deprioritizing the federal government’s HIV response by terminating grants to organizations that provide care for and research HIV. A leaked draft of the HHS budget “passback” suggests the administration is considering eliminating the “Ending the HIV Epidemic” initiative, which President Donald Trump launched during his first term.
It is not clear what the administration’s goal is on HIV.
While Trump vowed to end new infections in his first term, his second term saw the firing of nearly all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff working on HIV prevention. Trump has also favored allowing employers to opt out of covering health services they have religious objections to, like contraception.
Advocates have worried that could eventually extend to PrEP. …
The case
The plaintiff — Braidwood Management Inc., based in Texas — originally argued that the law’s required coverage of PrEP violated the owner’s religious beliefs. A lower court sided with the employer but did not extend the ruling more broadly, and the Biden administration did not appeal that part of the ruling.
A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Trump administration, which is now defending the 2010 law, could result in the HHS secretary having more power over the task force and its recommendations, said William Walters, an associate at Epstein Becker Green, which wrote an amicus brief on behalf of HIV advocacy organizations.
It’s not clear how Kennedy would wield that power — or if he would be interested in doing so.
“In order for the Task Force members’ appointment to be constitutional, the Secretary likely needs to have the authority over the Task Force such that he can approve/deny recommendations, and remove members at will,” Walters said in an email.
“Practically speaking, however, it’s not entirely clear that Secretary Kennedy would exercise this authority in a way that alters the Task Force all that much,” he wrote, adding that Kennedy appears more interested in vaccines than preventive services and screenings.
