Trump expected to roll back LGBT protections in ObamaCare
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The Trump administration appears poised to roll back ObamaCare’s anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients, a move that has activist groups girding for a fight.
A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to be released in the coming weeks or months that opponents say would make it easier for doctors and hospitals to deny treatment to transgender patients and women who have had abortions.
The proposed rule is expected to roll back a controversial anti-discrimination provision buried within ObamaCare.
Religious providers say they expect the Trump administration’s rule would merely reinforce their right not to provide treatment that's against their beliefs.
Advocacy groups like the ACLU and Lambda Legal acknowledge they haven’t seen the proposed rule, but say administration officials have made their plans clear.
President Trump repeatedly pledged support for the LGBT community when he ran for office, including during his speech at the Republican convention.
But LGBT advocates say the president’s words increasingly ring hollow after his actions to revoke civil rights protections for gay and lesbian troops and ban transgender people from the military.
“We are deeply concerned,” said Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal. “DOJ has already shown its hand... [W]e stand ready to respond.”
“I don’t think they [HHS] are going to have an easy time … and we’ll make sure they hear every objection and justify what they’re doing,” said Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said.
A sweeping 2016 final rule from the Obama administration prohibited healthcare providers and insurers who receive federal money from denying treatment or coverage to anyone based on sex, gender identity, or termination of pregnancy, among other conditions.
It also required doctors and hospitals to provide “medically necessary” services to transgender individuals, as long as those services were the same ones provided to others.
That rule was challenged in court by a group of Christian providers called the Franciscan Alliance. They argue the rule forces insurers to pay for abortions and compels doctors to perform gender transition services, even if the services are against their medical judgment.
The Alliance won that case, and a Texas district court judge issued a nationwide injunction blocking the gender identity and pregnancy termination provisions from taking effect.