Healthcare discrimination (refusal of care, refusal of insurance) against LGBTQ people is now legal in the United States. (This unconstitutional rule will be challenged in court.)
NPR:On this date 4 years ago (6/12/16), 49 people were gunned down in an LGBTQ nighclub in Orlando, Florida.— MURRAY (@murray_nyc) June 12, 2020
Fast forward 4 years (to the day) & the Trump Administration announces a policy that discriminates against LGBTQ people.
It's not a coincidence.https://t.co/fYICTEdpTL
Under the new rule, a transgender person could, for example, be refused care for a checkup at a doctor's office, said Lindsey Dawson, associate director of HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Other possible scenarios include a transgender man being denied treatment for ovarian cancer, or a hysterectomy not being covered by an insurer — or costing more when the procedure is related to someone's gender transition.The timing of these events -- the first MAGA rally, accepting the nomination, this bit of sadism - is all on purpose.
The Trump rule makes changes to gender-based discrimination protections beyond Section 1557 of the ACA; it affects regulations pertaining to access to health insurance, for example, including cost-sharing, health plan marketing and benefits. The rule could also mean that those seeking an abortion could be denied care if performing the procedure violates the provider's moral or religious beliefs.
Even with the rule now finalized, an LGBTQ person who is discriminated against or denied health care can still sue, and courts may rule that their civil rights were violated in such a case. But that's not an easy avenue, Dawson said.
"Because of limited access to litigation, I think that it's fair to state that the ramifications [of this rule] could be pretty significant," she said. Protections will also vary based on where someone lives, she added, so the rule "creates a patchwork of civil rights, compared to standardized protections." ...
Mari Brighe, a freelance writer and transgender woman who lives outside Detroit, called the rule "terrifying."
"I can relate a decade of stories about getting terrible health care because I'm trans," Brighe said. "We walk into any given health care situation not knowing whether doctors are going to treat us well, whether we're going to get high quality care, whether any given, random health care person is going to be terrible to us."
Once, when seriously ill with the flu and having trouble breathing, Brighe recalled, she was sent home from a hospital in rural New York and ended up driving 90 minutes and crossing a lake by ferry to get treatment at a hospital in Vermont.
She said worries now that the rule could make transgender people — who are already reluctant to seek medical care — all the more likely to avoid coronavirus treatment and testing. ...
On Friday, less than an hour after HHS issued its press release, LGBTQ activist group Lambda Legal said it would challenge the new rule in court.
"Today's rule is a tragically failed public health policy and just flat-out illegal," Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Lambda Legal senior attorney and health care strategist, said in a written statement. "We will be challenging the rule because at a time when the entire world is battling a dangerous pandemic, which in the United States has infected more than 2,000,000 people and killed more than 116,000, it is critical for everyone to have ready access to the potentially lifesaving health care they need."
For these Nazis, wanton cruelty and inflicting maximum pain is the point.
Ivanka Trump is a truly terrible person. pic.twitter.com/kPtQrhafjg— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) June 12, 2020
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