Biden administration restores health protections for LGBTQ community [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday that it would include gay and transgender people as part of health care protections.
• The Trump administration previously restrained people who could avail state-provided health care based only on biological gender.
• President Joe Biden has restored the comprehensive healthcare passed during the Obama administration.

In a complete shift from the previous Trump administration policy that limits the scope of medical care involving the LGBTQ community, the Biden administration announced on Monday that the nation will defend its people against sexual discrimination.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed that federal laws restraining sexual orientation regarding health care would also include LGBTQ people. Former President Donald Trump defined “sex” based on biological gender at birth, excluding transgender individuals.

“Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.”

Per Becerra, the new administration will align HHS’s movement with a Supreme Court decision last year, which ruled that federal laws against sex discrimination in the workplace also protect transgender and gay people.

The previous administration, however, continued to limit the legal protections for healthcare discrimination despite the high tribunal’s ruling by sticking with the policy that defined “sex” as biological gender.

One federal judge attempted to block those Trump-oriented policies, but former White House officials said that the Supreme Court ruling was a separate issue with the health care discrimination policy.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights will launch a probe on sex discrimination complaints on the merits of gender identity and sexual orientation. Should they be found guilty, hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities could face legal punishments.

Ultimately, President Joe Biden has brought back the policies introduced during the Obama administration. The Affordable Care Act, or also known as Obamacare, put a restraint against sexual discrimination in health care in order to include gay and transgender people as part of the law. The policy broadened its scope to accommodate every type of sexual orientation that existed.

People from the medical field and civil rights movement back expanded legal protections for the LGBT community. The social and religious conservatives, meanwhile, move to exclude them from the entitlement list.

Source: AOL.com