10mo ago

Biden administration restores protections for gay and transgender Americans seeking health care

www.cnn.com Biden administration restores protections for gay and transgender Americans seeking health care | CNN Politics

The Biden administration announced a new rule Friday expanding safeguards against potential discrimination of gay and transgender Americans seeking medical care, in a reversal of Trump-era limitations that nixed federal health protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

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10mo ago

Biden administration restores protections for gay and transgender Americans seeking health care

www.cnn.com /2024/04/27/politics/lgbtq-health-care-biden-administration-rules-affordable-care-act/index.html

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61 comments

Every doctor I’ve had as an adult, except my university health center doctor and planned parenthood doctor, has been hesitant towards my “gay” care. Things like saying I have multiple sexual partners make them wince when I say I want to be tested for STDs on a regular basis. Only my gay friendly providers offered me an anal exam when I said I was generally the receptive partner (to check for warts, hemorrhoids, sores, etc).
- 20 plus years ago when I first started working in healthcare anal pap smears weren't covered by insurance because paps were considered a "woman's test" and good luck finding a provider that would do them or a lab that would process them. Now it is considered routine testing covered by insurance and more doctors are learning to include this type of care while in med school. It breaks my heart to think about how many people don't get the care they need because of social prejudices and the slow crawl of progress.
- My doctor is with APLA in the Los Angeles area. LGBTQ+ flags and banners all over the doctor's office. I wish every LGBTQ+ person had this type of healthcare.
  https://aplahealth.org

Can anyone give us summary over what does enables other than insurance companies and health care providers Can't Turn You Away for simply lgbtq+
- Obama included gender, independent of sex, in anti-discrimination law for healthcare. Trump repealed it. Biden put it back.
  
  Project 2025 is already planning to pull it back.
  Vote, people.
  
  I mean obviously that's good news but how does this change anything besides adding additional guidelines to what a healthcare provider can refuse

Sadly this means nothing unless it’s enshrined in law and we get a new, not fascist supreme court.
And neither party currently supports doing this.
- Of course not. The Dems can't do it because not doing it by the book sets a dangerous precedent (really as authoritarian as it gets), and the Republicans can't do it because it's benefiting them. Best you can hope for is be able to impeach at least Thomas. Dems need more seats in Congress for that.
- And neither party currently supports doing this.
  That's simply not true. While it didn't exactly pass, Biden did try to enshrine it into law in 2021.
  I know politics sucks but try not to get so jaded you make shit up please? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_Act_(United_States)#:~:text=Purpose%20and%20content,-See%20also%3A%20LGBT&text=The%20Equality%20Act%20seeks%20to,Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964.

Took him long enough
Yours truly, a LGBTQ person

This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Biden administration announced a new rule Friday expanding safeguards against potential discrimination of gay and transgender Americans seeking medical care, in a reversal of Trump-era limitations that nixed federal health protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
In a set of expansive new rules unveiled by the Department of Health and Human Services, the department moved to advance civil rights protections for patients by barring health providers and insurers receiving federal funding from discriminating against those seeking care on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
The HHS rule restores Obama-era protections for transgender patients that the Trump administration rolled back in 2020 — a move that was condemned by LGBTQ+ advocacy and human rights organizations.
The contested rule stems from Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which bars “discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in specified health programs or activities.” The new HHS guidelines stipulate that while Section 1557’s prohibition on sex discrimination includes LGBTQ+ patients — and bans limiting access to care based on a patient’s sex assigned at birth or gender identity — exemptions based on health care providers’ religious beliefs still apply.
A 2016 interpretation of the clause under President Barack Obama expanded the ban on sex discrimination to encompass gender identity, but the HHS under Trump announced, on the four-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, that it was striking “certain provisions of the 2016 Rule that exceeded the scope of the authority delegated by Congress in Section 1557.”
That move swiftly met with legal opposition from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was set to take effect.
The original article contains 551 words, the summary contains 264 words. Saved 52%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Why did it take 4 years? Oh, the election.
- Well he shouldn't have done it then! /s
  
  The point is that they could have done this 3 years ago but only did it to score points in an election. Don't be fooled that they are the good guys.
- Voter’s memories are notoriously short.

Huh. So odd that, given how long ago this started, he just now decides to eliminate the law that this came from. During election year. Soooooo weird.
Edit: if you guys seriously have no problem with how Biden let the LGBTQ community get screwed over after all this time up until now, during election season of all times, I don't know what to tell you. The irony. I will die on this hill.
Edit: so I guess they have been working on this awhile. I still think the timing is incredibly sus, though. However, I am glad that they did at least start on this awhile back.
- good things are actually bad every four years, I prefer perfect, the enemy of good
- Nah. I think it's super convenient timing. This should've been one of the first things he did after winning the election. I think it's bullshit he pulled this out during election season, obviously in an attempt to win voters over.
- There needs to be something like the narcissists prayer for people who say stuff like this.
  Let's call it the haters prayer.
  "He didn't help."
  "And if he did, it wasn't even that great."
  "And if it was, it's not even really due to him"
  "And if it was, it still doesn't matter due to $INSERT_WHATABOUTISM_HERE"
  "And if it still matters, he only did it to help himself (get elected)."
  Amen.
  
  Saving this for later use cause god knows I'll need it.
  
  This bill doesn't affect me and I still think it's suspiciously timed. So how is this narcissism? Genocide Joe sucks. Too say otherwise is lying to yourself and others
  
  It's called "criticism". Your shortsided-ness must not do you any favors.

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