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A federal judge in Texas who previously ruled to dismantle the Affordable Care Act struck down a narrower but key part of the nation’s health law Thursday in a decision that opponents say could jeopardize preventive screenings for millions of Americans.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor comes more than four years after he ruled that the health care law, sometimes called «Obamacare,» was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that decision.
His latest ruling is likely to start another lengthy court battle: O’Connor blocked the requirement that most insurers cover some preventive care such as cancer screenings, siding with plaintiffs who include a conservative activist in Texas and a Christian dentist who opposed mandatory coverage for contraception and an HIV prevention treatment on religious grounds.
O’Connor wrote in his opinion that recommendations for preventive care by the U.
