On June 17, 2021, Ha Kung Wong was quoted in the Center for Biosimilars on a Supreme Court ruling that found plaintiffs had no standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which embodies the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA; Title VII). The BPCIA allows the licensure of biologic products as biosimilars.
According to the article, the plaintiffs had challenged the constitutionality of the individual mandate portion of the ACA, which requires that participants either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. Plaintiffs contended that although Congress reduced the penalty to zero dollars, the mandate effectively undermined the constitutionality of the entire ACA. A lower court ruled the mandate was unconstitutional but left it to the Supreme Court to decide whether other provisions of the ACA, including the BPCIA, also should be struck down or were “severable,” meaning they could be preserved.
By rejecting the case as lacking standing, the court sidestepped the need to evaluate the issue of severability, noted Wong. "This makes it more difficult to bring further constitutional challenges to the ACA in the courts. What this shows us, since this is the third time the Supreme Court has found a way to uphold the ACA, is that this is not an issue that they believe should be addressed in the courts, but, rather, in legislation.”
"The ACA isn't perfect," Wong said, "but this holding perhaps allows us all to refocus on finding ways to improve the ACA to better provide necessary health coverage for Americans."
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