Problem:
Former President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress created section 2713 of the Affordable Care Act, which empowered the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (“PSTF”) to decide the “preventative care” that all private health insurance must cover, even though none of the Task Force’s members were appointed as “officers of the United States” in conformity with Article II of the Constitution. In effect, the PSTF amounted to an unelected, unaccountable group of elite technocrats who unilaterally dictated which services all Americans with health insurance must subsidize—resulting in higher premiums and disruptions to the healthcare system in the United States.
Action:
AFL represented clients in a lawsuit seeking to have this section of the Affordable Care Act vacated as violating the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
Result:
The District Court agreed with AFL’s claims that the PSTF violated the Appointments Clause and vacated all of its actions since 2010. The case is now on appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Links:
- AFL Takes On Obamacare In Federal Court, Joins As Co-Counsel in Lawsuit Challenging Section 2713 of the Affordable Care Act
- America First Legal Secures Historic Victory in Lawsuit Against Illegal “Obamacare” Provision
- America First Legal Challenges Obamacare’s Constitutional Violations in Fifth Circuit Brief
