Officials from President Donald Trump's administration said they plan to repeal a rule that prevents payers and providers from discriminating against transgender people, according to The New York Times.
Former President Barack Obama's administration created the rule in order to amend the anti-discrimination provisions of the ACA and extend full coverage to individuals transitioning genders. Under the rule, insurers cannot limit the health services a person requires during their gender transition including hormone therapy and counseling.
Payers previously denied coverage for such treatment under the guise the services were cosmetic, a notion the rule sought to dispel.
Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, ruled protections related to sex were strictly biological and did not include gender identity, which the Trump administration is taking as a cue to repeal the rule entirely.
"The court held that the regulation's coverage of gender identity and termination of pregnancy was contrary to law and exceeded statutory authority, and that the rule's harm was felt by health care providers in states across the country, so a nationwide injunction was appropriate," Roger Severino, director of HHS' Office for Civil Rights, told The New York Times. "The court order is binding on HHS, and we are abiding by it."
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