Biden to Enforce LGBTQ
Healthcare Protections
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the Supreme Court “has made clear that
people have a right not to be discriminated against.”
BY MATT TRACY
In a departure from the
Trump administration, President
Joe Biden’s Department
of Health and Human Services
(HHS) will recognize healthcare
protections for LGBTQ people.
HHS will interpret Section 1557
of the Affordable Care Act — which
bans discrimination in healthcare
settings — to include sexual orientation
and gender identity within
the defi nition of sex discrimination,
the agency announced on May
10. The Trump administration had
fi nalized a rule last year aimed at
scrapping the Obama-era provision
of the Affordable Care Act that
included gender identity under the
defi nition of sex discrimination.
In the announcement, the Biden
administration cited last June’s
Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme
Court ruling, which stipulated that
LGBTQ workers are covered under
the defi nition of sex Title VII of the
1964 Civil Rights Act.
“The Supreme Court has made
clear that people have a right not
to be discriminated against on
the basis of sex and receive equal
treatment under the law, no matter
their gender identity or sexual
orientation,” HHS Secretary Xavier
Becerra said in a written statement.
“That’s why today HHS announced
it will act on related reports
of discrimination.”
Becerra added, “Fear of discrimination
REUTERS/GREG NASH
can lead individuals
to forgo care, which can have serious
negative health consequences.
It is the position of the Department
of Health and Human Services
that everyone — including LGBTQ
people — should be able to access
health care, free from discrimination
or interference, period.”
HHS, which welcomed out trans
Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel
Levine earlier this year, is the
latest agency to take action against
Trump-era policies impacting LGBTQ
folks. In January, Biden
signed an executive order directing
federal agencies to enforce Bostock
v. Clayton County Supreme Court
ruling and broadly interpret federal
sex discrimination laws.
Advocates and groups met the
latest move with praise, including
the Human Rights Campaign,
which sued the Trump administration
on behalf of New Yorkers
Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker
and Cecilia Gentili after the previous
president issued the rule targeting
Obamacare protections.
“LGBTQ people undeniably deserve
access to the health care
they need, and the Biden administration’s
decision to enforce these
non-discrimination protections
will ensure no hospitals, clinics, or
other federally-funded health care
program can deny someone care
simply because of who they are,”
Human Rights Campaign president
Alphonso David said
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