The American Medical Association has spoken out against the Trump administration’s proposal to remove anti-discrimination protections related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and the termination of pregnancy across a wide variety of health care programs and insurance plans.
The Association noted that the proposal went against the nondiscrimination provisions included in the Affordable Care Act by drastically limiting coverage protections despite decades of case law recognising these protections.
“This proposal marks the rare occasion in which a federal agency seeks to remove civil rights protections. It legitimises unequal treatment of patients by not only providers, healthcare organizations, and insurers, but also by the Government itself-and it will harm patients. Such policy should not be permitted by the U.S. Government, let alone proposed by it,” the Association wrote in a submission letter to a Government committee.
It said undoing the protections of the current rule will cause confusion about what the law requires and who is protected by it and, in doing so, will limit access to critically needed care and services for millions of individuals.
The proposed rule disproportionately harms people seeking reproductive health care (including abortion), LGBTQ individuals, individuals with LEP (including immigrants), those living with disabilities, and people of colour, it said.
