Judge Blocks New Federal Rule on Health Care Discrimination

A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from enforcing key parts of a regulation that would roll back protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in accessing health care.

The case, brought by the nonprofit civil rights group Lambda Legal, aims to counter a June HHS move to exclude LGBTQ individuals from a section of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. AARP and AARP Foundation filed an amicus brief in support of the legal challenge.

The Trump administration is seeking to reverse an Obama-era interpretation of the statute, known as Section 1557, that defined sex discrimination as including discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

The preliminary injunction that Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued Wednesday prevents HHS from enforcing that change and another proposal to allow health care providers to claim a religious exemption from Section 1557 before the court hears the case.

Allowing the new rules to take effect “would impede the public interest by threatening the health of LGBTQ individuals at large, some of whom will likely develop increasingly acute conditions on account of their delaying necessary care or refraining from transparent communication with providers out of fear of discrimination,” the judge wrote in a 101-page opinion.

The coronavirus pandemic reinforces the need “to ensure the availability and provision of care on a nondiscriminatory basis,” he said.

The case was brought on behalf of clinics serving LGBTQ communities in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and other LGBTQ and medical organizations.