Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-431_5i36.pdf
Page Number: 65

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

9 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention with respect to the individual involved; . . .

“(3)  with  respect  to  infants,  children,  and  adoles-
cents,  evidence-informed  preventive  care  and  screen-
ings  provided  for  in  the  comprehensive  guidelines
supported by [HRSA; and] 

“(4) with respect to women, such additional preven-
tive care and screenings not described in paragraph (1)
as provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported 
by [HRSA] for purposes of this paragraph.” 

At the start of this provision, Congress instructed who is 
to “provide coverage for” the specified preventive health ser-
vices:  “group  health  plan[s]”  and  “health  insurance  is-
suer[s].”  §300gg–13(a).  As the Court of Appeals explained, 
paragraph  (a)(4),  added  by  the  Women’s  Health  Amend-
ment,  granted  HRSA  “authority  to  issue  ‘comprehensive
guidelines’  concern[ing]  the  type  of  services”  group  health
plans and health insurance issuers must cover with respect 
to women.  930 F. 3d, at 570 (emphasis added).  Nothing in
paragraph  (a)(4)  accorded  HRSA  “authority  to  undermine 
Congress’s [initial] directive,” stated in subsection (a), “con-
cerning  who  must  provide  coverage  for  these  services.” 
Ibid. (emphasis added). 

The Government argues otherwise, asserting that “[t]he
sweeping authorization for HRSA to ‘provide[ ] for’ and ‘sup-
port[ ]’ guidelines ‘for purposes of ’ the women’s preventive-
services mandate clearly grants HRSA the power not just 
to specify what services should be covered, but also to pro-
vide  appropriate  exemptions.”    Brief  for  HHS  et al.  15.10 
This terse statement—the entirety of the Government’s tex-
tual case—slights the language Congress employed.  Most 
visibly, the Government does not endeavor to explain how 

—————— 

10 This opinion uses “Brief for HHS et al.” to refer to the Brief for Peti-
tioners in No. 19–454, filed on behalf of the Departments of HHS, Treas-
ury, and Labor, the Secretaries of those Departments, and the President.