Trump admin rolls back healthcare protection for transgenders on Pulse Remembrance Day

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday, Jun 12 announced the roll back of Obama-era regulation protecting transgender persons from discrimination while receiving health care.

According to the new version of the policy, the US Health Department will “return to the government’s interpretation of sex discrimination, which, as per the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ is determined as male or female in biology”.

The Obama regulation defined gender as a person’s internal sense of being male, female, neither, or a combination of both.

The revision of the policy was long sought by Donald Trump’s religious and socially conservative supporters and would allow healthcare providers and insurance companies that receive federal funds, to refuse to provide treatment or cover transition-related care for trans-Americans.

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The announcement came on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, an incident where a shooter killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Under the Obama-era federal rule, a hospital could perform gender-transition procedures such as hysterectomies if the facility provided that kind of treatment for other medical conditions. The rule upheld the anti-discrimination section of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in healthcare but does not use the term “gender identity”.

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Trump’s move opposed

Several organisations have decided to challenge the change in policy. The Human Rights Campaign said it would file a lawsuit, while the ACLU has also said it would impeach the Trump rule.

Roger Severino, head of the health department unit said that trans-Americans continue to be protected by other statutes that prohibit discrimination in healthcare based on race, colour, national origin, age, disability, and other factors.

But LGBTQ+ groups have stressed that protections are needed for people seeking gender confirmation treatment, and for trans people who need treatment for common illness such as diabetes or heart problems. Women’s groups say the new regulations also undermine access to abortion, which is a legal medical procedure in the US.

The administration has also restricted military service by trans men and women, and proposed homeless shelters to take gender identity into account while offering someone a bed for the night. It also concluded that federal civil rights law does not protect trans people from discrimination at work.

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