Richard H. Hughes, IV, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in the Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report, in “HIV Prevention Drug Uptake Threatened in Obamacare Battle,” by Ian Lopez.
Following is an excerpt:
HIV-prevention treatment costs have been an on-and-off burden for Henry Henderson over the past six years….
‘Vitally Important’
And with the appeal, “we are looking at really significant questions on laws meant to broadly protect public health and guarantee access to health care and how we balance that with religious liberty,” said Richard Hughes, an Epstein Becker & Green PC attorney representing HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute as amicus curiae in the case.
“We will concentrate on showing the court that Congress’s delegation to the task force is constitutional and that covering HIV prevention is not a religious issue,” Hughes said. In the Braidwood decision, O’Connor determined that the ACA preventive service requirements were recommended by a constitutionally appointed government task force.
“If we lose access to PrEP, we will lose the progress we made to date in ending the HIV epidemic. And that is vitally important.”
