CURRENT LITIGATION

FLORIDA v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of HEALTH and HUMAN SERVICES

The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) required states to provide Medicaid services to individuals whose income is 133% of the federal poverty level or less. This expansion of the Medicaid program would have accounted for about half, or 14 million people, of those newly insured as result of the ACA.

However, the state of Florida and 25 other states challenged the ACA’s constitutionality, including the health reform law’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility. The case, officially known as Florida v. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The Bazelon Center participated in efforts before the Court to defend ACA’s Medicaid expansion.

On June 28, the Supreme Court upheld the ACA’s health-insurance reforms and “individual mandate” that individuals in the U.S. must obtain health coverage. The Court also upheld the Medicaid expansion, but as an option that states can choose or decline.

RESOURCES