ASMR - AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region Joins Lambda Legal in Support of Affordable Care Act
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 07:31AM Gilsum, NH — Today, AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region joined over 130
HIV and healthcare advocacy organizations by endorsing Lambda Legal’s
friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as the ACA.
This brief supports the federal government’s position that the ACA’s minimum
coverage requirement (also known as the individual mandate) is
constitutional under the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper
Clause. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments at the end of March.
In March of 2010, the ACA was signed into law, reforming aspects of the
private health insurance industry and expanding access to health insurance
for millions of Americans. The constitutionality of the law was immediately
challenged in federal court in multiple jurisdictions. In January 2012
Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief highlighting the crucial link
between the ACA and the ability to curtail the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in several cases
challenging the constitutionality of the law the week of March 26, 2012.
When the ACA was enacted, only 17% of Americans with HIV had private health
insurance. In the individual insurance market, people living with HIV are
generally considered “uninsurable” and are routinely rejected when they
apply for coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. Even when
these individuals find an insurance company to cover them, most states have
no rating limits, allowing insurers to charge prohibitively expensive
premiums. The ACA is designed to address this problem by eliminating
pre-existing condition exclusions and requiring that everyone acquire health
insurance.
“The list of supporters for our brief urging the Court to uphold the ACA
continues to grow because of the law’s enormous potential to impact the
domestic AIDS epidemic,” said Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director for
Lambda Legal. “By signing on to the statement of support, organizations
across the nation have affirmed the demonstrable effect the ACA will have on
reducing rates of transmission and increasing prevention education, early
detection, and access to quality care for everyone living with HIV.”
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full
recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender
people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public
policy work. To read the complete list of organizations that have signed
the statement of support, visit
http://lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/dept-of-hhs_us_20120315_statement
-of-support
The following organizations are listed as signatories in the amicus brief
filed at the U.S. Supreme Court: AIDS United, Asian and Pacific-Islander
Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA), Black AIDS Institute, Center for HIV Law and
Policy, Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Gay and Lesbian
Medical Association (GLMA), HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), HIV Prevention
Justice Alliance (HIV PJA), Latino Commission on AIDS, National Association
of People with AIDS (NAPWA), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR),
National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), National Native American
AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC), U.S. Positive Women’s Network/WORLD, and
Treatment Access Expansion Project (TAEP).
The case is Dep’t of HHS v. Florida. See the case page:
www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/dept-of-hhs-v-florida.
To read the brief:
www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/dept-of-hhs_us_20120113_brief-for-am
ici-curiae .
ASMR, Affordable Care Act, Gay Agenda, HIV/AIDS, Obamacare