LGBT groups on Monday filed a lawsuit
challenging a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule
change that eliminates transgender protections in the Affordable Care
Act, also known as Obamacare.
HHS's rule, finalized earlier this
month, reverses an Obama-era regulation that expanded the definition
of sex as it relates to discrimination in health care to include
gender identity. HHS's new rule defines sex as “determined by
biology.” It is expected to take effect on August 18, 2020. (It
should be noted that the underlying law prohibiting discrimination
has not changed; only HHS's interpretation has changed.)
The rule was released just days before
the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender workers are
protected until existing federal civil rights law. The high court
said that the term sex includes sexual orientation and gender
identity.
The Trump administration has said that
it would not revise the rule in light of the court's decision.
Leading the challenge is LGBT legal
group Lambda Legal, which said in a statement that the administration
was using HHS as a “weapon” against the LGBT community and
promised to “fight back.”
“While HHS’s health care
discrimination rule cannot change the law, it creates chaos and
confusion where there was once clarity about the right of everyone in
our communities, and specifically transgender people, to receive
health care free of discrimination,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior
attorney and health care strategist at Lambda Legal, said in a
statement. “Today, Lambda Legal, a broad coalition of LGBTQ groups,
and the people our clients serve say ‘enough’ to the incessant
attacks from the very agency charged with protecting their health and
well-being. For years, the Trump administration has utilized HHS as a
weapon to target and hurt vulnerable communities who already
experience alarming rates of discrimination when seeking care, even
now, during a global pandemic. Their actions are wrong, callous,
immoral and legally indefensible. We will fight back.”
In a
lawsuit filed in March, Lambda Legal claimed that the Trump
administration had failed to enforce LGBT nondiscrimination
protections in HHS-funded programs.