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Federal rules proposed in US to help end health insurance discrimination against trans people
The US Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday (3 September) released proposed rules aimed at eliminating discrimination against transgender people in the US health care system.
The proposed Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities rule would make it illegal for healthcare plans to not cover services for transgender people if they offer those services to non-transgender people.
The rules seek to eliminate the common practice of excluding all gender transition-related health care from coverage – something that is common with private health insurance plans, state Medicaid and other programs.
The rules are designed to implement the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination provision, Section 1557. The Affordable Care Act is commonly known as ObamaCare.
The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund calling this a ‘monumental step’ towards ensuring that transgender Americans get fair treatment within the health care system.
‘It is vital for transgender people to have access to medically necessary care, to be covered by insurance for that care, and to be treated with dignity and respect in medical settings,’ said TLDEF Executive Director Michael Silverman.
‘Transgender people continue to face tremendous barriers to accessing care which causes great harm to their health and well being,’ Silverman added. ‘The purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to ensure that all Americans had access to safe, affordable care. Under these new rules, transgender people will finally be able to reap the benefits of our nation’s health care law.’
The proposal would apply to all health insurance plans sold on the state and federal exchanges. It would also apply to any plan sold by a company with a federal contract or that is receiving federal funds.
It may not cover some private health insurance plans that do not receive any type of federal financial assistance or federal government contracts. It would also be up to non-Health and Human Services federal health programs to apply the rules to their programs.
The Department of Health and Human Services will hear comments on the proposed rule until 7 before taking final action on the proposal.
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Greg Hernandez
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