FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge has sided with a Fort Worth orthodontist who argued that requiring health insurance to pay for HIV prevention drugs was a violation of his religious freedom.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, of the Northern District of Texas, issued a ruling in the case Wednesday.
Technically, O’Connor’s ruling focused on just one plaintiff: Braidwood Management Inc., a company based in Texas. But in principle, his decision supports the reasoning of multiple North Texas Christians, who challenged a key part of the Affordable Care Act when they sued the federal government in 2020. The plaintiffs include Fort Worth oral surgeon Gregory Scheideman, Fort Worth orthodontist John Kelley, and his company, Kelley Orthodontics.
