Health and Civil Rights Group Blast Trump Admin. Attempt to Gut LGBTQ Protections from ACA

In response to recent moves by members of Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut Medicaid, health, human and civil rights advocates voiced concerns that the Trump administration is working to gut a provision of the law that prohibits discrimination against sex and gender identity in federal health programs.

In a media briefing Thursday, experts from the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Partnership for Women & Families, and the National Women's Law Center explained why the nondiscrimination provision, Section 1557, of the ACA is integral to the law and how revising it will limit access to comprehensive health care for women and LGBTQ persons.

"Section 1557 is key to ensuring that all Americans can lead healthy lives, free of discriminatory barriers, and enjoy the benefits and protections of the Affordable Care Act," said Vanita Gupta president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "Section 1557 builds on longstanding federal civil rights laws and is the first federal civil rights law to prohibit sex discrimination in health care. Attempts to weaken those protections is a direct assault on all the communities the rule protects, including people of color, women, people with disabilities, seniors, people whose primary language is not English, immigrants, and LGBTQ individuals. All individuals need to be protected from discrimination in health coverage or care. We expect the Department of Health and Human Services to fully enforce the law."

Harper Jean Tobin, policy director, National Center for Transgender Equality said, "We hear almost every day from transgender people facing discrimination in health care - being told 'we won't treat people like you,' or denied coverage for medications and treatments provided to others. Section 1557 has helped us make tremendous progress, with HHS resolving many cases of harmful discrimination against patients. So while the full impact of a repeal is impossible to predict, one thing is clear to us: no one should face discrimination when it comes to health care."

Mara Youdelman, managing attorney, D.C. office, National Health Law Program (NHeLP) said, "The Affordable Care Act's nondiscrimination provision is integral to fighting against discrimination in the health care system. This discrimination has produced inequities that will take decades to overcome. If the Trump administration changes the rule, it will weaken if not eliminate protections for women, patients with limited-English proficiency, and members of the LGBTQ community. This revision would undermine the intent and purpose of Section 1557. Such an action would also add to the Trump administration's string of depraved efforts to sabotage the ACA."

Among the 200 national organizations represented in The Leadership Conference on Civil and Hum����an Rights are LGBTQ organizations the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National LGBTQ Task Force, Lambda Legal, Immigration Equality and the National Center for Transgender Equality.