Washington, D.C. — Today, a large coalition of groups announced that more than 132,400 comments have been submitted in opposition to the Trump administration’s proposal to undermine the robust nondiscrimination protections under the Health Care Rights Law, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new proposed rule would eliminate the current rule’s clear and explicit protections and make it harder for patients to access health insurance coverage and care. It would open the doors for discrimination against LGBTQ people, women, people with limited English proficiency, disabled people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and many other patients and consumers. In response, Laura E. Durso, vice president of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
The public has spoken loud and clear: Access to quality, comprehensive health care is essential to everyone’s well-being. The Trump-Pence administration’s proposal to gut Section 1557 of the ACA would harm those of us who already face the biggest obstacles in accessing the medical care we need to stay healthy.
As required by law, the administration must carefully read the more than 132,400 comments this proposed rule generated and stop endangering people’s health. Thousands of impacted individuals and providers explain the ways in which the proposed rule will enable discrimination, stoke fear and confusion, and discourage people from accessing care. From enabling insurance companies to deny transgender people coverage for the very same health care services that they cover for nontransgender people to potentially leaving patients in the dark about their medical care because they don’t speak English, this rule attempts to wipe out the many protections of the Health Care Rights Law and must be stopped.
CAP worked with a broad coalition of groups to raise awareness of the harms the proposed rule would cause to many types of people. The members include the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center, TransChance Health, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, The National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Partnership for Women and Families, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the National Women’s Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Human Rights Campaign, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights, FORGE, PFLAG National, the National Council of Jewish Women, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, National Health Law Program, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Lambda Legal, Center for Constitutional Rights, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, Equality Federation, and Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need.
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For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Sam Hananel at [email protected] or 202. 478.6327.