NAMI Speaks out Against Harmful Ruling

Dec 17, 2018

On Friday, December 14^th, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional in the case Texas v. USA.

What does this mean for people with mental illness? First, no one will lose their coverage or have patient protections stripped away from their health plan at this time. The ruling will be appealed and could be overturned. In the meantime, the White House issued a statement that read, “We expect this ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Pending the appeal process, the law remains in place.”

However, NAMI is concerned because, if this ruling is upheld on appeal, we would see the clock turned back on parity and patient protections. Without the ACA:

• Millions of individuals and families covered through Medicaid expansion, including people with mental illness, would lose their coverage.
• Millions of individuals who purchase individual or small group health insurance plans would lose important protections—and could even lose their coverage. These plans would no longer be required to:
  • Cover preexisting conditions, like mental illness
  • Guarantee coverage to everyone who applies
  • Provide parity coverage for mental health and substance use conditions
• Americans who have health insurance through their employer would
  • Lose their right to preventive services
  • Lose coverage of children to age 26
  • See lifetime and annual dollar limits of coverage reappear

Learn more about how NAMI is joining a group of 38 patient groups in speaking out against this ruling.