A view of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, home to the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Photo from Facebook

The Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming lost a challenge to Affordable Care Act regulations affecting "large" employers.

Congress did not exempt tribes from the large employer mandate, Judge Scott Skavdahl concluded. That means the tribe must provide health coverage to all of its workers, the decision stated.

"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," Skavdahl wrote in the 33-page decision.

The tribe has been helping its employees obtain health coverage through healthcare.gov. About 600 people work for tribal businesses and several hundred work for the tribal government itself.

By being treated as a large employer, the tribe argued that its employees will end up paying more in the long run for coverage. The tribe also believes the insurance it will be required to provide will not be as effective as the one available through healthcare.gov.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Northern Arapaho Tribe v. Department of Health and Human Services.

Get the Story:
Court Holds That Tribe Is Subject To ACA Large Employer Mandate (Forbes.Com 7/9)
Northern Arapaho Tribe v. Burwell Dismissed by US District Court of Wyoming (Health Affairs 7/8)

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Northern Arapaho Tribe asks judge to block health care rules (02/13)
Northern Arapaho Tribe files lawsuit over Affordable Care Act rules (12/10)