The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to release guidance that would begin the rollback of protections for LGBTI patients under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
According to The Hill, these new guidances are expected to be released in the upcoming weeks or months. Opponents say that this new set of rules would make it easier for doctors and hospitals to deny treatment to transgender people as well as to women who have had abortions.
While advocacy groups such as Lambda Legal and the ACLU have not yet seen these proposed guidelines, they claim officials in the Trump administration have made their plans clear.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently reviewing the new guidelines. Though it’s unclear how long this review process will take, the DOJ must send it to the Office of Management and Budget before it goes public.
‘We are deeply concerned,’ Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal, told The Hill. ‘DOJ has already shown its hand. We stand ready to respond.’
Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU told The Hill, ‘I don’t think they [HHS] are going to have an easy time, and we’ll make sure they hear every objection and justify what they’re doing.’
The Department of Justice started reviewing the guidelines on 4 August. Once the guidelines are released, advocacy groups plan to make official statements.
GSN has reached out to Lambda Legal and the ACLU for comment.
