WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule that rolls back non-discrimination regulations known as “the Health Care Rights Law,” or Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The Health Care Rights Law protects patients from discrimination in health care and is the first broad prohibition of sex discrimination in health care in federal law.
By rolling back these protections, the Trump Administration seeks to harm LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are transgender, people seeking abortions and other reproductive health services, people whose first language is not English, immigrants, people of color, and people with disabilities.
“It is cruel (yet all too believable) that in the midst of a global pandemic, the Trump Administration would actively embolden healthcare providers, insurance companies, hospitals, and others to discriminate against patients,” said Denise Brogan-Kator, chief policy officer at Family Equality. “Anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in health and human services doesn’t just hurt LGBTQ+ people: this discrimination hurts their children and family members too. Approximately 20% of LGBTQ+ people are parents, and Family Equality has documented numerous instances of harm to children of LGBTQ-headed families when health providers are allowed to deny critical services. We condemn this action in the strongest possible terms.”
About Family Equality
Family Equality advances legal and lived equality for LGBTQ+ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. Family Equality believes every LGBTQ+ person should have the right and opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of who they are or where they live. Learn more at familyequality.org.
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Media Contact
Ed Harris / Chief Communications Officer
646.880.3005 x117
communications@familyequality.org