Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care
The Trump administration on Friday finalized a regulation that will erase protections for transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies, a move announced on the four-year anniversary of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando and in the middle of Pride Month.
The rule, which does not differ much from a proposed version released last year, is part of a broad Trump administration effort across multiple areas of policy — including education, housing, and employment, as well as health care — to narrow the legal definition of sex discrimination so that it does not include explicit protections for transgender people.
The Affordable Care Act, the 2010 law often known as Obamacare, established broad civil rights protections in health care, barring discrimination on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in “any health program or activity” that receives federal financial assistance.
The Obama administration interpreted the provision about sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of “gender identity.” Under the original 2016 rule, health care providers and insurers would have been required to provide and cover medically appropriate treatment for transgender patients.
more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/us/politics/trump-transgender-rights.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20200612&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline®i_id=16112385&segment_id=30814&user_id=75ee940ebe2fd3e9d0a6bb93cf283302
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