JUNE 12, 2020 BY MICHAEL STONE
Deplorable: Rewarding his conservative Christian base, President Donald Trump has eliminated protections against discrimination in health care for LGBTQ people.
Associated Press reports:
The Trump administration Friday finalized a regulation that overturns Obama-era protections for transgender people against sex discrimination in health care.
The policy shift, long-sought by the president’s religious and socially conservative supporters, defines gender as a person’s biological sex. The Obama regulation defined gender as a person’s internal sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.
The Hill reports:
The Trump administration will scrap Obama Care’s nondiscrimination protections for sex and gender identity under a final rule released Friday.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the government’s interpretation of sex discrimination will be based on “the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ as male or female and as determined by biology.”
Announcing they will sue the Trump Administration for eliminating anti-discrimination health care protections, the Human Rights Campaign notes:
The new rule will eliminate explicit protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity that have existed under law, thereby sanctioning discrimination against LGBTQ people in health care programs and activities.
In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal have also announced plans to sue the administration over the new rule.
Commenting on the new rule, Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said:
We cannot and will not allow Donald Trump to continue attacking us. Today, the Human Rights Campaign is announcing plans to sue the Trump administration for exceeding their legal authority and attempting to remove basic health care protections from vulnerable communities including LGBTQ people. And, to add insult to injury, the administration finalized this rule on the anniversary of the Pulse shooting, where a gunman killed 49 people in an LGBTQ nightclub.
LGBTQ people get sick. LGBTQ people need health care. LGBTQ people should not live in fear that they cannot get the care they need simply because of who they are. It is clear that this administration does not believe that LGBTQ people, or other marginalized communities, deserve equality under the law. But we have a reality check for them: we will not let this attack on our basic right to be free from discrimination in health care go unchallenged. We will see them in court, and continue to challenge all of our elected officials to rise up against this blatant attempt to erode critical protections people need and sanction discrimination.
Also commenting on the new rule, Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, said:
No one should fear being turned away by a medical provider because of who they are or the personal health decisions they have made.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted:
At a time when there is so much violence against trans people, it is abhorrent that the Trump admin is stripping away critical health protections.
Bottom line: Rewarding his conservative Christian base, Trump has eliminated nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in health care and health insurance.
- TAGGED WITH:
- UNCATEGORIZED