Money, Sex, and Religion--The Supreme Court\u27s ACA Sequel

The Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case is in many ways a sequel to the Court\u27s 2012 decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The majority decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, is a setback for both the ACA\u27s foundational goal of access to universal health care and for women\u27s health care specifically. The Court\u27s ruling can be viewed as a direct consequence of our fragmented health care system, in which fundamental duties are incrementally delegated and imposed on a range of public and private actors. Our incremental, fragmented, and incomplete health insurance system means that different Americans have different access to health care. A central goal of the ACA was to repair some of this incremental fragmentation by universalizing certain basic health care entitlements. The Court has once again expressed its disagreement with this foundational health-policy goal