Government health agencies, organizations receiving federal health funds, and health insurance companies operating under government programs will comply with nondiscrimination standards under a comprehensive rule finalized Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There is a need. Officials stress that the rule does not force providers to perform the procedure and prohibits discrimination against patients.
Supporters of the rule say it protects patients from being turned away because they are gay or transgender, and demands longer wait times and higher payments for fertility benefits for LGBTQ+ people. It claims to prohibit insurance contracts. The rule also includes more broadly applicable provisions, such as requiring health care providers and other recipients of federal funds to inform patients of free services that provide accessibility and language assistance.
“Americans across the country must act on their right against discrimination when they go to the doctor, seek advice about health insurance, or participate in health programs administered by HHS,” Department of Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. We have a clear way to do that.”
This rule focuses on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which allows health care providers to consider race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in federally funded health care programs. prohibits discrimination based on HHS can impose severe penalties on organizations and workers it determines have violated the law, ranging from requiring additional training to removing violators from federal programs. Federal officials say the rules maintain religious exemptions.
Politicians and advocacy groups are wondering how the White House should interpret this rule, especially how it applies to LGBTQ+ and pregnant patients who may face discrimination from healthcare providers who are reluctant to treat them. For more than 10 years, there has been debate over whether this should be done. The Obama administration promulgated regulations that included protections for gender identity and gender stereotypes. The Trump administration eliminated those specific protections. And in 2022, the Biden administration moved to restore and expand the Obama-era definition by including sexual orientation as a subject of specific protections.
The Supreme Court also ruled in 2020: Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia argued that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, prompting some courts to block implementation of the Trump-era rule. A coalition of LGBTQ+ and other groups suing to repeal the Trump-era rules called on the Biden administration to expedite rules that would restore protections.
LGBTQ+ activists on Friday cheered for the Biden administration to finalize the rules.
“LGBTQ Americans are grateful for this step in fighting discrimination in health care so that no one is denied access to life-saving treatment,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of advocacy group GLAAD, said in a statement. .
The fight over discrimination in health care is likely to drag on, as conservatives say they plan to resist attempts to strengthen protections.
Republicans criticized the Biden administration's proposed 2022 rules, and the state attorney general warned HHS not to “exceed its statutory authority” and signaled he was open to litigation over the anticipated final rule. .
Conservatives are also calling on a future Republican White House to repeal “the redefinition of sex to cover gender identity and sexual orientation, and pregnancy to cover abortion,” according to Heritage. Foundation-backed conservative organization Project 2025 last year policymakers.
Project 2025 added that the Biden administration's interpretation of the law would create “special privileges for a new class of people defined in a highly ideological and unscientific manner.” The group told Health and Human Services to instead focus on “serious incidents of racial, gender, and disability discrimination,” such as the Michigan State University investigation into allegations of assaults on students by former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. asked to guess.
