HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
Updates to Statute 1557 that Healthcare Providers Need to Know
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act mandates nondiscrimination in health care programs managed or funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with upcoming deadlines for compliance set for May and July...more
In a move with potentially significant implications for entities subject to the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has reversed course and now contends that Section 1557 of the Affordable...more
Following through on a campaign theme focused on transgender issues and access to gender-affirming health care, on Friday, January 28, President Trump signed an Executive Order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Following years of back and forth, new final rules were published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 6, 2024 reinstituting the Department’s interpretation that the prohibition on...more
Judge Frederick Block of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has preliminarily enjoined HHS from revising the Obama-era definitions of sex discrimination under Section 1557 of the ACA. See Walker v....more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from enforcing a new rule that limited sex discrimination in healthcare to discrimination based...more
On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County Georgia. At issue in Bostock was whether an employer could fire an employee for being gay or transgender without...more
Under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”), health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, or...more
In Baker v. Aetna, (U.S. Northern District Court of Texas, 2017), Charlize Marie Baker filed claims against her employer and Aetna after having been denied benefits under the health plan and the short-term disability plan for...more
On December 31, 2016, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking the implementation or enforcement of Section 1557’s provision extending the definition of sex...more
As LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in political and social issues, FordHarrison has been following ground-breaking litigation related to LGBTQ rights and providing updates. In the latest decision, a federal judge in...more
This past May, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin,...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently published its Final Rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other grounds, sex in...more