Some States Highlight Bans on Insurer Discrimination Against LGBT People
June 24, 2020 by Allison Bell
Officials in California, New York and Illinois have rushed to tell health insurers in their states that their states continue to have regulations protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people against discrimination in health care and health insurance.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in the process of removing prohibitions on discrimination based on gender identity in federal health care programs from federal regulations. HHS officials contend that the provisions, which were added during the administration of former President Barack Obama, to implement Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, exceed the scope of HHS officials’ statutory authority.
PPACA Section 1557 does not mention any specific class of protected people directly. It instead directs regulators to look at four other federal civil rights laws. Some of those laws refer to discrimination based on sex, but none refer explicitly to sexual orientation or gender identity.
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