Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
In this May 5, 2021 photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks at a health center in Washington. The Biden administration says the government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care. That reverses a Trump-era policy that sought to narrow the scope of legal rights in sensitive situations involving medical care. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Monday that LGBTQ people should have the same access to health care as everyone else. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) May 10, 2021 - 1:36 PM
WASHINGTON - The federal government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration declared Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that narrowed rights at the intersection of changing social mores and sensitive medical decisions.
The United States will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in healthcare, the Biden administration announced on Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that sought to narrow the scope of legal rights in sensitive situations involving medical care.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the action restores protections under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, against sexual discrimination in healthcare.
“It simply says what everyone already should know: You should not discriminate against people,” Becerra told CNN. “That includes those based on sexual orientation or gender identity and when it comes to healthcare – we want to make sure that’s the case.”
The Biden administration on Monday reversed a Trump-era decision to allow health care providers to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided last June to reverse an Obama-era regulation interpreting the ban on sex discrimination under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to apply to cases of transgender discrimination. In addition to undoing protections for transgender people, that rule change also rolled back protections based on sex stereotyping, women who have had abortions, and those who speak English as a second language.
But as of May 10 and just weeks after President Joe Biden declared to transgender Americans in his first address to a joint session of Congress that your president has your back the old rules prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQs are back.
Monday, 10 May 2021 09:29 PM MYT
The Trump-era rule reversed some provisions of the law that extended civil rights protections in healthcare to cover areas including gender identity and abortion. Reuters pic
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WASHINGTON, May 10 Gay and transgender people will be protected against sex discrimination in healthcare, the US health secretary said today, as President Joe Biden’s administration reversed a policy put in place under his predecessor Donald Trump.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the action restores protections under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, against sexual discrimination in healthcare.