National Women’s Law Center Files Amicus Brief In Affordable Care Act Case Before The Supreme Court

(Washington, D.C.) The National Women’s Law Center today submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the minimum coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Center filed the brief in United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al v. State of Florida, et al on behalf of itself and 60 other organizations. It details what is at stake for women in the challenge to the ACA, how the law addresses sex discrimination in the health insurance and health care markets, and why legislation addressing the economic effects of sex discrimination is a particularly appropriate exercise of federal Commerce Clause authority and therefore is constitutional.

The following statement is from Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center:

“The Affordable Care Act makes important advances in women’s health care, including by addressing discriminatory practices and barriers to access to care. Like the anti-discrimination laws of the past 50 years, the ACA addresses a serious nationwide problem that has profound economic consequences for Americans. These are national concerns for which a national solution is both necessary and clearly constitutional.

“Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate the national health care market – and the discrimination against women that is rampant in it – is settled law. Requiring insurers to provide coverage to anyone who seeks it, regardless of health status, will remedy the long-standing practice of refusing to sell insurance to women with so-called ‘pre-existing conditions’ such as pregnancy, a previous Caesarean section, or a history of having survived domestic abuse. The ACA explicitly targets practices unfair to women, such as charging women more for insurance coverage based solely on their sex and refusing to cover or overcharging women for essential services like maternity care.

“The ACA’s requirement that individuals carry a minimum level of insurance is central to improving women’s access to the health insurance market, for this requirement makes it financially possible for insurers to provide coverage to all who seek it at a reasonable cost. Despite claims by the ACA’s critics, the refusal to purchase health insurance is not a decision to ‘opt out’ of the health care market, thereby putting individuals beyond the reach of federal law. Individuals cannot ‘opt out’ of the health care market, since every person has health care needs at some point in their lives. In fact, health care costs of the uninsured are shouldered by society as a whole, at a cost of billions of dollars per year. Congress has the authority to regulate an individual’s refusal to be insured, given the direct and substantial economic impact of this decision.”

Organizations joining the brief include the American College of Nurse-Midwives, National Council of Women’s Organizations, Health Care for America Now, Black Women’s Health Imperative, National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Partnership for Women and Families, and the Older Women’s League.

For more information, including the full brief and list of co-signers, please visit: www.nwlc.org/healthcarelawlitigation

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