(TargetLiberty.org) – Texas and Montana filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Biden administration’s new rule to prohibit Medicaid programs from denying gender-affirming care.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans, teamed up to ask a federal court to vacate the Biden administration rule that is intended to guarantee certain care for transgender and gay people.
The lawsuit highlights that the “sweeping new rule” made possible by the “Affordable Care Act (ACA)” would mean states that choose not to conform to the Biden administration’s “gender-ideology regime” could lose federal healthcare funding, including funding from Medicare and Medicaid.
The lawsuit argues the new rule is unconstitutional in its attempt to override state law, adding that the ACA does not authorize the Department of Health and Human Services or any government agency to compel institutions to pay for or perform gender-affirming treatment.
The lawsuit centers on Section 1557 of the ACA, which prohibits discrimination based on color, race, national origin, age, sex, and disability in certain health programs and activities. This section has been the subject of litigation over the past decade as lawmakers and advocacy groups dispute how the policy should be interpreted.
The rule initiated during the Obama administration interpreted sex discrimination to mean gender identity discrimination and sex stereotyping, but not sexual orientation discrimination.
The Trump administration removed these protections. However, the Biden administration reinstated and expanded the protections to add sexual orientation.
At the end of April, the Biden administration unveiled its final rule, which prohibited organizations receiving federal health funding and health insurers that include government plans from refusing gender-affirming services to an individual. The rule also banned the excluding gender-affirming care from such organizations.
This meant that if a hysterectomy to treat uterine cancer was covered, the organization must also cover a hysterectomy to facilitate gender transition.
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