The Biden administration on Friday announced sweeping new protections for gay and transgender medical patients, preventing federally funded health care providers and insurers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. prohibited.
The new rules reverse policies introduced by the Trump administration and help fulfill part of President Biden's promise to restore civil rights protections for LGBTQ people excluded by his predecessor.
“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 according to your rights, develop a health plan or participate in an HHS-run health program,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. Stated.
The rule overhauls federal policy in an area that has become a political flashpoint in recent years, with more than 20 Republican-led states banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors. and is likely to give rise to legal challenges. The history of this rule also shows that it reflects political considerations. Currently, this rule has taken three different forms under his three presidents.
The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, established comprehensive civil rights protections in the U.S. health care system through so-called Section 1557. The law prohibits discrimination against patients on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. “Any health care program or activity” that receives federal funding and covers a wide area of the U.S. health care system.
In 2016, the Obama administration issued a less expansive version of the rule, which the Biden administration finalized Friday, requiring health care providers to provide medically appropriate treatment to transgender patients. Officials at the time argued that the Affordable Care Act's protections against discrimination included gender identity. The Obama administration became embroiled in lawsuits, and the Trump administration refused to enforce it.
Conservative opponents of the rule say the policy could effectively force doctors to perform medical services they may have objected to, including for religious reasons. In 2020, the Trump administration formally narrowed the legal definition of sex discrimination to no longer include protections for transgender people.
The rules finalized by the Biden administration on Friday maintain religious exemptions and “do not mandate or mandate the provision of any particular health care service.”
“Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on certain prohibited grounds and does not interfere with individual clinical judgment regarding the appropriate course of treatment for a patient,” the rule states.
The Biden administration reversed course from the Trump administration after the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination based on sex, also applied to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I started doing it.
Republican officials continued their efforts to maintain Trump-era control. In 2022, a group of Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Becerra after the Biden administration released a proposed version of the rule, which was finalized on Friday, threatening a lawsuit if the Department of Health and Human Services moves forward with the policy. he suggested.
The proposed rule drew intense scrutiny from advocates and opponents. The Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that it had received more than 85,000 comments.
Groups advocating for rescinding the Trump-era rules welcomed the Biden administration's decision Friday. Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said: “Countless Americans now know that they cannot be turned away from the medical care they need just because of who they are or who they love. So I'm taking solace in that,” he said.
