The Department of Health and Human Services is rewriting an Affordable Care Act rule that would permit health care providers, hospitals, and insurers to discriminate against transgender patients due to their identity.
Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health and family medicine physician in New York, Dr. Meera Shah, responded with the following statement:
“All people, no matter their gender, are deserving of comprehensive, compassionate health care. Individuals determine their own gender identity—not a physician or a politician, and the risk of denying medical services or coverage is great. Due to barriers, discrimination, and stigma transgender people face every day, they are at greater risk for depression and suicide. As health care professionals, we have an obligation to provide high quality care to all of our patients. I am concerned that this rule, if enacted, could cause great harm to transgender people.
No patient should be discriminated against based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“As a physician who provides health care to a gender expansive community, including providing gender affirming hormone therapy, I know that medical interventions such as these are life-saving and medically necessary. No patient should be discriminated against based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. I hope that the Trump administration does not eliminate the existing protections in the Affordable Care Act.”