D.C. A.G. Racine Sues Trump Administration for Allowing Health Care Discrimination

WASHINGTON, July 21 -- District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine issued the following news release:

Attorney General Karl A. Racine joined a coalition of 23 Attorneys General in filing a lawsuit to stop a new Trump Administration rule that makes it easier for health care providers and insurance companies to discriminate against certain vulnerable and protected classes of Americans. In a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and the head of HHS's Office of Civil Rights, Roger Severino, the coalition argues that the new rule emboldens providers and insurers to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals, those with limited English proficiency, and women, among others, by stripping express protections in regulations that implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The lawsuit seeks to block this rule that allows for health care discrimination.

Background

Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits discrimination by any health care program--including providers and insurers--against individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. In 2016, HHS issued regulations implementing Section 1557, making it clear that discrimination on the basis of gender identity, nonconformity to sex stereotypes, and pregnancy status are forms of sex discrimination prohibited by the ACA. Federal courts have also held that the ACA's prohibitions on sex discrimination protect transgender and other LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination, which was confirmed in last month's Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status are forms of sex discrimination prohibited by federal civil rights law.

But, despite numerous failed legislative and legal battles to repeal and dismantle the ACA, the Trump Administration's new rule would now eliminate many of the express protections contained in the Section 1557 regulations, unlawfully exclude many health insurers from its scope, and would embolden health care providers and health insurers to deny care and insurance coverage. The new rule would also impose unreasonable barriers and impede timely access to health care for Americans, in violation of the ACA.

Before the rule was finalized, the coalition previously called on the Trump Administration to withdraw the rule by submitting a comment letter to HHS last August, as well as by sending a letter to HHS this past April, at the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health crisis, in an effort to stop the further exacerbation of the nation's health care system.

In the lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the coalition argues that HHS:

* Unlawfully ignored the harms that the new rule will impose on vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+ individuals, individuals with limited English proficiency, and women, as well as other protected classes.

* Failed to justify why it abandoned its prior policy, which, among other things, explicitly prohibited discrimination in health care and required health entities to provide meaningful language assistance services to individuals with limited English proficiency, including notifying them of their rights to translation and interpretation services.

* Issued this rule out of animus toward the transgender community.

The coalition specifically argues that the new rule is arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and that it violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment.

A copy of the lawsuit can be found here: https://oag.dc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/Section-1557-ACA-Discrimination-Complaint.pdf

Attorney General Racine joins this lawsuit with Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.