«The mandates force Braidwood to underwrite coverage for services to which it holds sincere religious objections,» the judge wrote in the ruling.
A Texas judge ruled on Wednesday that requiring companies to provide HIV prevention care violates employers’ religious rights.
The judge «ruled against the Obamacare provision that requires employers to cover the HIV prevention drug PrEP,» Politico health care reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein tweeted about the ruling, adding that the decision could undo all preventative care coverage requirements.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Braidwood Management Inc., which sought to challenge the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ruling on Wednesday comes years after the lawsuit was initially filed in March 2020, with Braidwood alleging that the ACA’s requirement to provide HIV preventative care, or prophylactic drugs, widely known as PrEP, violated its religious freedoms.
«Through the preventive-care mandates, ACA insurance policies must cover, among other things, PrEP drugs, the HPV vaccine, and screenings and behavioral counseling for STDs and drug use,» the ruling said.
