الولايات المتحدة

En este caso se unieron dos demandas colectivas presentadas bajo la Ley de Reforma de Litigios Penitenciarios de 1995 (PLRA), la cual permite que los reclusos inicien acciones judiciales por violaciones de derechos constitucionales. Las cárceles de California fueron diseñadas para albergar a unos 80.000 presos, pero a la fecha de la presentación el sistema tenía aproximadamente 156.000 reclusos.

On June 25th, 2015, in King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court decided a matter impacting the health care coverage of millions of Americans. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted by Congress in 2010 to increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance. Under the ACA, people can purchase health insurance through an “exchange” in each state, basically, a marketplace that allows people to compare and purchase insurance plans. Every state can create its own exchange but if the state chooses not to, the federal government then establishes such an exchange.

The plaintiffs were recipients of the federal program Aid to Families with Dependent Children or the New York State program Home Relief who alleged that New York officials terminated or were about to terminate their benefits under the programs without notice or hearing. When the suit was filed, no rules were in place requiring that recipients be given notice or a hearing before losing their benefits. Before this appeal occurred, the state and city of New York adopted procedures for notice and hearing. The plaintiffs then challenged the adequacy of the new procedures.

The case was a consolidation of two class actions brought under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), which allows prisoners to sue for violations of constitutional rights. California's prisons were designed to hold about 80,000 prisoners, but at the time of filing, the system held about 156,000. In both class actions, overcrowding was found to constitute an 8th Amendment violation because of a serious lack of access to basic medical care, with one case dealing specifically with prisoners with serious mental illness.