The amici curiae are the National Health Law Program, American Public Health Association, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Women’s Health Network, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Forward Together, National Hispanic Medical Association, Ipas, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS), HIV Law Project, Christie’s Place, National Women and AIDS Collective, California Women’s Law Center, and Housing Works.
The amici want to bring accurate information on these topics to the Court as it considers the legality of the requirements for preventive health care services under § 2713(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act, added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The ACA recognizes that preventive health services are critical to individual and community health. It accordingly requires new group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover such additional women’s preventive health care services as provided for in guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). By doing so, the ACA recognizes that women have unique reproductive and gender specific health needs.
Well-established standards of medical care and prevailing federal laws and policies predating the ACA recognize that family planning services are essential preventive care for women. The contraceptive coverage requirement adds to these larger federal policies and seeks to ensure that health plans sold in the individual and small group markets cover essential preventive services for women.
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