In a 2-1 decision published on December 18, 2019, a 5th Circuit panel upheld the Texas District Court’s decision ruling that the ACA individual mandate tax which, since January 2019, has had no monetary consequence, is unconstitutional. Citing the Supreme Court’s 2012 NFIB v. Sebelius opinion, the panel explained that the key feature of the individual mandate –the critical tax attributes that once saved the mandate from unconstitutionality- no longer exist, and therefore it can no longer be classed under Congress’ taxing power. Despite definitively ruling on this key issue, the panel remanded the case to the District Court to take a closer look at whether the individual mandate’s unconstitutionality is severable, or whether the entire ACA now must be struck down.

As another mark of progress in the fight against opioid addiction, Governor Wolf signed Senate Bill 572 (the “Act”) into law on November 27, 2019, requiring prescribing providers (referred to as “Prescribers”) to take several additional steps before issuing a prescription for an opioid in certain treatment situations. Specifically, the Act’s requirements kick in before a Prescriber can issue a patient the first prescription in a single course of treatment for chronic pain with a controlled substance containing an opioid.