On June 17, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released its long-awaited ruling on the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). In a 7-2 ruling, the majority (written by Justice Stephen Breyer) found that the two individual and 18 state plaintiffs did not have standing, stating
“the plaintiffs…failed to show a concrete, particularized injury fairly traceable to the defendants’ conduct in enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional. They have failed to show that they have standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act’s minimum essential coverage provision.”
By ruling on the question of standing, the Court did not have to proceed to, and rule on, the issue of the constitutionality of the Individual Mandate.
The Court reversed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling with respect the standing issue, vacated the ruling, and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss.
A more robust discussion of the majority’s opinion and the procedural history of this case will be included in the June 2021 issue of Health Capital Topics.
