The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in the case of Texas v. United States that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate provision is unconstitutional. While that ruling affirmed a portion of the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the appeals court did not go along with district court ruling vacating the entirety of the ACA, which has expanded health insurance coverage for tens of millions of Americans.

Instead, the appeals court has remanded the case to the district court to further analyze which of the ACA’s many vital provisions remain constitutionally valid.

The “decision leaves important health insurance protections shrouded in uncertainty despite overwhelming public support for these policies,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA. “The decision underscores that the district court’s initial ruling striking down the entire ACA was made without appropriate analysis, ignoring the extensive reach of the law and its many provisions that have no relationship to the individual mandate.”

Read the whole shebang at the AMA.