The federal government has made it official that you cannot discriminate on the basis of gender when providing healthcare coverage through federal programs.
The government issued a final rule on Friday that is aimed to reduce disparities in the care that minority groups receive. The rule implements a section of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination based on sex, pregnancy, gender identity and sex stereotyping in federally funded health programs.
Previously, civil rights laws only barred discrimination on race, color, nation of origin, disability or age, according to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The rule ensures that women must be treated equally with men in the healthcare they receive.
However, it doesn’t resolve whether “discrimination on a basis of an individual’s sexual orientation status alone is a form of sex discrimination,” HHS said.
The administration said it supports prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination as a matter of policy and “will continue to monitor legal developments on this issue.”
The rule’s release comes on the same day that President Obama issued an executive order that calls on all schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. If they don’t then schools could lose federal funds.
That order was in response to North Carolina’s controversial law that prohibits localities from passing laws that allow transgender people to use the bathroom of their chosen gender. The administration has taken North Carolina to court over the law.
