Biden Administration Expands Protections Against Healthcare Discrimination for LGBTQ+ Community

The Biden administration has announced new rules aimed at expanding safeguards against potential discrimination faced by gay and transgender Americans seeking medical care, reversing restrictions imposed during the Trump era that removed federal health protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled a set of expansive new rules to advance civil rights protection for patients who are prevented from receiving healthcare because they identify as transgender or homosexual. This rule brings back Obama-era measures, which were reversed in 2020 by the Trump administration. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said that these guidelines will promote a more equitable and inclusive health care system where Americans can defend their rights against any form of discrimination when they visit hospitals or interact with healthcare programs run by HHS. The new rule comes at a time when access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth has become the subject of political controversy, as over 20 states have attempted in recent years to restrict such care for young people. Conflicting rulings on state-level bans have emerged from lower courts across the country, leading to mounting pressure on the Supreme Court to intervene. This is an updated interpretation based around section1557 of The Affordable Care Act, a segment which requires ‘non -discriminatory provisions related towards various medical practices’. New rules say that health providers or insurance organisations getting financial backing from the Federal government can not limit treatment due to patients’ sexual orientation or gender identity. These exemptions for religious beliefs still stand as per previous interpretations made by Trump’s HHS in 2016, which said “HHS will enforce Section 1557 by returning to the Government’s interpretation of sex discrimination according to its plain meaning – male and female and determined on a biological basis”. This move was met with legal opposition from various human rights groups, leading Judge Freda Wolfson in New Jersey to block it just one day before it came into effect. The Biden administration announced plans last year to protect transgender Americans against healthcare discrimination through Section 1557 restrictions, attributing these reforms on account of the U S Supreme Court judgement recognizing that federal civil rights legislation precludes such action for homosexuals, bisexual and transgendered individuals. The new HHS guidelines have been welcomed by human rights groups including Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson who said “Countless Americans can now find solace in knowing they cannot be turned away from healthcare that they need just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”