Healthcare providers such as hospitals, clinics, physicians, community health centers, nursing homes, home care agencies, health insurance companies (including those found in the Health Insurance Marketplaces), and any other “covered entities” which operate a “health program or activity” have a new civil rights law to incorporate into their operations. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued its final rule to drive health equity and diminish healthcare disparities. This Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities rule is a supplement to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Section 1557 is the first federal civil rights law to specifically forbid sex discrimination in both healthcare and healthcare coverage plans by any provider or insurance company that receives federal funding such as Medicare and Medicaid, and so much more. The new law, that specifically addresses sex discrimination in healthcare, protects the rights of transgendered patients with respect to healthcare administered by their provider, their health insurance carrier, and their employer. Sex discrimination also includes discriminatory treatment on the basis of pregnancy, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, recovering from pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, sex stereotyping, and gender identity.
It is not only sex discrimination that the ACA prohibits—discrimination based on race, color, national origin, age, disability are also protected classes from discrimination. “Covered Entities” are instructed to provide language assistance for individuals with limited English skills with new rules about who can provide that assistance, and in what format, such as translation of documents and websites and taglines. Individuals with disabilities are likewise protected including a requirement to make websites and other electronic information accessible to those with disabilities.