Did the Trump Administration remove health care protections for transgender individuals?
On June 12, 2020, the Health and Human Services Department eliminated anti-discrimination provisions under the Affordable Care Act for transgender individuals. The change allows health care providers to deny access to services or facilities based on a recipient's gender identity. The department left a range of other anti-discrimination provisions in place.
Three days later, the Supreme Court ruled on a workplace discrimination case, broadly extending civil-rights employment protections to transgender LGBT individuals, including transgender employees. Although the health care rules and workplace rules are made under different provisions of civil-rights law, "the sexual orientation and gender identity provisions of the 1557 rule will now be much harder to defend," said the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation supporting health care for vulnerable populations.
