On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, a case which The Advocatefirst broke news of in 2022, that could dismantle one of the most widely used and life-saving provisions of the Affordable Care Act: the guarantee that insurers must cover preventive services—like HIV prevention medication, cancer screenings, and maternal health care—at no cost to patients.

At the center of the case is whether the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a nonpartisan body of health experts that recommends what services insurers must cover under the ACA—was constitutionally established. The plaintiffs argue that because the Senate doesn’t confirm its members, its authority is invalid.

José Abrigo, HIV project director and senior attorney at Lambda Legal said the case is “about whether science or politics will guide our nation’s public health policy.”

“The plaintiffs in this case are not challenging the medical effectiveness of PrEP or other preventive services—they are attacking the legitimacy of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an expert, nonpartisan body created by Congress to make evidence-based recommendations about what kinds of care should be covered,” Abrigo told The Advocate. “Allowing ideological or religious objections to override scientific consensus would set a dangerous precedent.”

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