Trump's transgender healthcare restriction blocked, for now

UPDATE: Aug. 19, 2020, 2:08 p.m. EDT On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the rollback one day before its planned implementation. The district court judge said it violates the below Supreme Court ruling in June that protected LGBTQ workers from discrimination.

UPDATE: June 16, 2020, 12:51 p.m. EDT On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ employees are protected against discrimination. While the decision doesn't invalidate the Trump administration's reversal on Friday of Obama-era protections for transgender people, the organization Advocates for Youth told Mashable that it does "put us a step in the right direction to have stronger case law and stronger interpretation of the words around sex discrimination."

Original story:

You wouldn't be blamed if you haven't heard about the Trump administration's latest rollback of protections for transgender people. With the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis, and the continuing protests against the police killing of George Floyd, there's a lot going on.

On Friday, the government reversed an Obama-era regulation which makes it illegal for healthcare providers and insurance policies covered under the Affordable Care Act to discriminate against transgender people, NBC reported. The rule defines gender identity as "male or female and as determined by biology," not, as the Obama administration put it, “one’s internal sense of gender, which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.” It's set to take effect in mid-August, NPR reported.

A changed definition may not seem earth-shattering but it has widespread negative implications for transgender people. It means they could be denied treatment for ovarian cancer, or an insurer might not cover a hysterectomy or even up the price if the procedure is related to the patient's gender transition, according to NPR.

Already, almost one-quarter of transgender individuals have said they did not seek out healthcare for fear of being mistreated because they are transgender. This finding comes from the National Center for Transgender Equality's 2015 survey of 27,715 transgender adults from every state and D.C., its territories and U.S. military bases abroad.

Many prominent LGBTQ organizations responded to the announcement by denouncing it, with some promising swift action.

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This comes at a time when the pandemic has already made it harder for transgender people to access gender confirmation surgery, given the cancellation or postponement of scheduled surgeries. Without this procedure, transgender people can suffer from suicidal thoughts.

And what's the Trump administration's rationale for this rule? To save taxpayers money.

“Now more than ever, Americans do not want billions of dollars in ineffective regulatory burdens raising the costs of their healthcare.  We are doing our part to reel in unnecessary costs that add economic burdens to patients, providers, and insurers alike,” said Roger Severino, the director of the Office of Civil Rights for the department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in a press release.

Just in case, you didn't catch it: the Trump administration seems to be equating transgender people with "unnecessary costs" and saying the cost of their care represents an "ineffective regulatory burden."