Supreme Court will not expedite review of ACA case

The Supreme Court today said it will not expedite its decision whether to review a Texas appeals court decision that held the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate unconstitutional. 

Twenty states and the District of Columbia had petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision this term. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last month ruled the ACA's individual mandate unconstitutional and sent the case back to the district court in Texas for the judge to take a "careful, granular approach" to determining which of the law's provisions could survive without the mandate.

The AHA — joined by the Federation of American Hospitals, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Association of American Medical Colleges, and America's Essential Hospitals — earlier this month filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to review the case this term. Thirty-three state hospital associations also filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to review the case this term. 

For more on the appeals court decision, see the AHA's recent statement.