A U.S. appeals court has temporarily halted a federal judge's ruling that struck down the Affordable Care Act's mandate requiring insurers to cover preventive care, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The ruling stems from one of several legal challenges Republicans have brought against the 2010 healthcare law, former President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement popularly known as "Obamacare."

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in March struck down the Affordable Care Act's mandate that health insurance plans cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV, or the so-called PrEP mandate, at no cost to patients.

Reed ruled that the PrEP mandate violated a federal religious freedom law and that other no-cost preventive care mandates were based on recommendations by an illegally appointed task force.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans put Reed's decision on hold, the Times reported, leaving the mandate in place for now.