Court: Obamacare Protects Trans People in Health Care Settings

Tuesday, March 17, 2015
By: National Center for Transgender Equality

http://transequality.org/blog/court-obamacare-protects-trans-people-in-health-care-settings

For the first time, a federal court has confirmed that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits discrimination against transgender people by any health care provider accepting federal funds. In the case of a young transgender man who says he was badly mistreated in a Minnesota hospital, the court ruled Monday that Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits gender identity discrimination under the umbrella of sex discrimination, and that by accepting Medicare and Medicaid funds the hospital was subject to the law.

Worth knowing, especially at one hospital that went to accepting public funds recently.

This is very good news, especially for those of us in Minnesota. Now, if they'd just rule that states which accept federal funds aren't allowed to discriminate... (MN law prohibits Medicaid from covering GRS. )

The ruling, which denies plaintiffs' motion to dismiss the case, was issued by Minnesota District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson. It's available here as a PDF. I haven't finished reading it yet, but it's very thorough (it runs to 63 pages), and to the eye of this non-lawyer, it looks excellent.

Bravo, Judge Nelson!

Judge says transgenderman has plausible case he was mistreated at hospital

http://m.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/296930741.html

By Randy FURST,   STAR TRIBUNE | March 19, 2015 - 11:45 PM

"Nelson's 63-page ruling is believed to be the first extensive federal court analysis of Section 1557 of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The provision prohibits discrimination by health care providers and is the first federal civil rights law barring sex discrimination in health care."

"I was traumatized by the whole experience," Rumble said in an interview. He's identified in court documents as a "female-to-male transgender man."

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What do we keep putting up with health discrimination?

Surprised it took so long for somebody to sue Fairview over their transphobic medical policies (then again it costs a lot of money to fight back legally). On the other hand Twin Cities is pretty crap in general when it comes to trans* health care.