The Biden administration is strengthening health care protections against discrimination against gay and transgender people and reversing Trump administration rules that watered down the protections.
In a wide-ranging final rule released Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations prohibiting discrimination based on sex, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. has been strengthened. Specific health programs and activities.
“Today’s rule is a huge step forward for this country toward a more just and inclusive health care system, and will ensure that Americans across the country feel free to fight against discrimination when going to or seeking a doctor’s appointment.” “It means you now have a clear way to act in accordance with your rights to develop a health plan or participate in an HHS-run health program,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. .
This rule includes the protections of Section 1557 of the ACA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs and activities.
The final rule comes as Republican-led states are cutting back on access to gender-affirming health care. According to the health research organization KFF, 24 states have enacted laws or policies that limit or prohibit gender-affirming care for children.
The previous administration’s policies maintained protections against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. However, updates at the time narrowed the definition of sex to only mean “biological sex” and excluded transgender people from protections.
Supporters worried that the previous policy would make it easier for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to deny care and coverage to transgender and non-binary patients and women who have had abortions.
In the rule, the Biden administration made clear that federal protections for religious freedom and conscience continue to apply. These protections say a health care provider does not discriminate if it refuses to provide abortions or other care if it violates a “sincerely held belief.”
“Today’s rule exemplifies the Biden-Harris Administration’s continued commitment to health equity and patient rights,” said HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Reiner. “As I travel around the country, I hear many stories of people facing discrimination when it comes to health care. We need the robust protections of 1557 now more than ever.”
Section 1557 has been controversial since its inception and continues to be litigated. Obama-era rules made it illegal for doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to refuse treatment to people whose sexual orientation or gender identity they disagree with.
The White House under former President Donald Trump issued a final rule rescinding the protections in June 2020, but the day before the rule went into effect, a federal judge blocked aspects of the policy, contradicting a Supreme Court ruling on workplace discrimination. He said there was. New policy.
The decision concluded that federal laws against sex discrimination in the workplace protect homosexuals and transgender people.
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