It was an eventful month for a portion of the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) that is rarely in the news. However, the ACA’s preventive care list was a recent news topic for two separate reasons. First, the agencies responsible for overseeing and updating the preventive care list added four new types of screenings to the list. Second, on June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion upholding the authority of the committee to continue making preventive care recommendations.
New Preventive Services
Under the ACA, non-grandfathered plans and insurers are required to provide certain preventive care without cost sharing. The preventive care is list is frequently updated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”), the US Preventive Task Force, and the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization practices. The list was recently updated to require plans and insurers to provide the following new preventive services for plan years beginning on or after December 20, 2025 (with one exception noted below):
- Screening and Counseling for Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence – This includes annual adolescent and adult women screening for intimate partner and domestic violence and providing or referring to intervention services (e.g., counseling, education, and hard reduction strategies), as needed.
- Breast Cancer Screening for Women of Average Risk – Initiate mammography screening no earlier than age 40 and no later than age 50, with frequency at least bi-annually, but as frequent as annually, lasting through at least age 74. If additional imaging (e.g., MRI, ultrasound, mammography) and evaluation are indicated, such services are recommended to complete the screening process.
- Patient Navigation Services for Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening – Individualized patient navigation services for breast and cervical cancer screening based on patient’s needs, including (but not limited to) person-centered assessment and planning, health care access and health systems navigation, referrals to appropriate support services (e.g., language translation, transportation, and social services), and patient education.
- Osteoporosis Screening – For plan years beginning on or after February 1, 2026, osteoporosis screening using DXA BMD, with or without fracture risk assessment and other bone measurement testing. This new rule build on the existing requirement to cover osteoporosis screening at no cost for women aged 65 and older and for postmenopausal women under 65 who are at increased risk of fracture.
US Supreme Court Upholds ACA Preventive Task Force Committee’s Authority
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration and held that the task force members are lawfully appointed under the Constitution’s appointments clause and can therefore continue to make preventive care recommendations. The case arose from a challenge brought by religious-minded employers and several individuals who objected to the US Preventive Services Task Force’s approval of no-cost coverage for the HIV preventive medication known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The plaintiffs alleged that their religious rights were violated by requiring their insurance plan to cover activity that facility same-sex behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage.
However, by the time the case reached the Supreme Court, the only remaining issue was whether the committee’s appointment was lawful. Two lower courts in Texas had ruled that the government violated the Constitution’s appointment clause because the task force members were appointed not by the President, but by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). And while GOP-aligned groups have launched a bevy of attacks against the ACA, the Trump administration took over the case from the Biden administration and continued defending the panel’s legitimacy and authority.
Writing for the majority, Justice Kavanaugh concluded that the “Task Force members are supervised and directed by the Secretary, who in turn answers to the President, preserving the chain of command in Article II.” As a result, the majority held that the committee members were “inferior officers” and therefore properly appointed by the Secretary of HHS. As expected, many health groups expressed relief at the High Court’s ruling, which preserved the ability of the panel to continue making changes to the list requiring services with no cost sharing, including those related to cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, depression, domestic violence, and substance abuse disorder.