
The Obama administration announced a series of new rules that would prohibit health care providers from discriminating against patients based on their gender identity.
The Obama administration made a great leap forward for transgender rights by barring health insurance and medical providers from discriminating against patients based on their gender.
According to a report from the Huffington Post, the proposed regulations, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday, transgendered people would have equal access to making civil rights claims against insurers, doctors, hospitals, and other providers that appear to discriminate based on gender identity. Health insurers, for example, would not be able to deny treatments related transition procedures under the new guidelines.
Insurers are notorious for discriminating against transgender people, who have a specific set of healthcare needs. Insurers typically refuse to cover hormone therapy and mental health counseling for transgender customers, especially as a part of a transition procedure. A recent survey shows that more than 40 percent of female-to-male transgender people reported facing discrimination from healthcare providers.
The move is the latest in a series of actions from the Obama administration in an ongoing effort to support the rights of transgendered people, from changing passport classifications to adjusting military policy to include people regardless of their gender.
The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as many call it, already prohibited discrimination on the part of healthcare companies based on sex, and the new guidelines would broaden the definition to include gender-based discrimination.
Leave a Reply