On April 29th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a final rule under Section 1557, the core nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act. This groundbreaking rule marks a critical step in protecting access to vital health care and health insurance coverage for LGBTQIA+ people nationwide.

The new rule restores and expands important protections to ensure everyone can receive the health care and coverage they need, free from discrimination. This rule reverses the harmful 2020 Trump administration rule that sought to eliminate federal nondiscrimination protections in healthcare for LGBTQIA+ people.

The rule demonstrates a strong commitment to addressing healthcare inequality by including specific protections for communities most often harmed by the inequalities in our healthcare system, including transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, people with limited English proficiency, people of color, and people with disabilities.

Research shows that LGBTQIA+ people continue to face widespread discrimination in health insurance and health care settings:

• According to the 2022 U.S. Transgender Health Survey, nearly 50% of respondents had at least one negative health care experience because of their gender identity.
• In One Colorado’s 2018 Closing the Gap Survey 53% of LGBTQIA+ Coloradans reported that the fear of staff treating them differently as a barrier to seeking care.
• The 2021 Colorado LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health State of the State Survey Report found that 1 in 5 LGBTQIA+ Coloradans had experienced a behavioral health care provider invalidating their identities and 1 in 10 had experienced a provider trying to change their identities.

We are grateful for this step taken by the Department of Health and Human Services, however the work is far from over. Now we continue the work at the state level to protect and improve healthcare access for everyone, until we reach the point where your identity no longer impacts your healthcare outcomes. An important piece of this work is uplifting and sharing stories of why this matters, of what access to healthcare and health insurance means to us and our community. Fill out this form to join us in this work and share your lived experience.