The ACA changed everything for me. Now Trump is threatening the life I built.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-aca-changed-everything-for-me-now-trump-is-threatening-the-life-i-built/ar-AA1BIke5?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=12754ef90e5e48a980bd35658a685f7c&ei=146
Opinion by Katelyn Burns (26 March 2025)
I quit my full-time job as a bank teller to become a full-time freelance journalist on April 20, 2017.
And I couldn't have done it without the Affordable Care Act and its coverage of gender-affirming care.
But my access to that essential care is now being quietly threatened by the Trump administration. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services put out a proposed rule that would change a wide range of policies under the ACA — including shortening the open enrollment period by a full month, ending eligibility for ACA plans for DACA recipients and no longer requiring gender-affirming care coverage as an essential health benefit on all ACA individual and small group plans.
"This means that insurance plans would no longer be required to cover treatments related to gender transition, such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgeries," Matthew Rose, senior public policy advocate at the Human Rights Campaign, told me in a statement. "As a result, many insurers may drop coverage for these services or shift the costs to individuals and states. If a state mandates coverage for gender-affirming care outside of the federal EHB requirements, it would have to pay for the coverage itself. This could make gender-affirming care more expensive or inaccessible for transgender individuals, particularly those with lower incomes."