Headline RoundupMay 10th, 2021

Biden HHS Restores Trans Health Protections in Reversal of Trump Policy

Summary from the AllSides News Team

The Biden administration will reverse Trump-era rules excluding transgender people from the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination protections, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday. Specifically, HHS will interpret Section 1557 of the ACA, which prevents healthcare discrimination on the basis of “race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability,” to include sexual orientation and gender identity. This reflects a 2020 Supreme Court ruling, which held that the Civil Rights Act of 1964's "sex" protections included sexual orientation and gender identity. The Trump administration previously limited Section 1557 protections to a person’s biological sex in June 2020. The Obama administration included abortion and trans people under Section 1557 in 2016, but a federal judge overturned the policy in 2019. Coverage from right-rated outlets was relatively rare and focused more on the Trump policy of allowing providers to refuse abortions. Coverage in left- and center-rated outlets tended to say the announcement "reversed" the Trump policy, with some coverage from the left attributing the new policy directly to President Joe Biden and calling the Trump policy "anti-transgender."

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