Court Says Indian Tribes Are Covered By ACA

A Wyoming Indian tribe lost a legal bid to be exempted from the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act, and must provide health insurance to all of its employees.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Northern Arapaho Tribe, which employs over 900 people in a casino and retail stores. The tribe had sought to subsidize its employees’ purchases of individual policies through the federal exchange rather than providing coverage for them itself.

Judge Scott Skavdahl initially ruled that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the Tribe’s request for an injunction against enforcement of the mandate, because the requirement is enforced through a tax, and federal courts are prohibited from issuing an injunction against collection of a tax.

However, the judge also considered the Tribe’s claim on its merits. He ruled that, while Native Americans are exempt from the ACA’s individual mandate, as an employer the Tribe was subject to the rule. He also held that the Tribe could not object to the mandate now because it had failed to comment on the regulation when it was first proposed.

“If Congress wished to exempt tribes from this mandate that otherwise might be reasonably construed as applying to them, it needed to do so explicitly,” Judge Skavdahl ruled.