HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell – Photo: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
New rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would effectively prohibit health care plans from denying coverage to transgender people for various treatments for gender dysphoria. The HHS rules, intended to implement nondiscrimination provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act, would classify gender identity discrimination as sex discrimination. To comply, plans would have to cover medically necessary medications, surgeries or other treatments for gender dysphoria if they cover similar services to non-transgender people with other medical conditions.
Once finalized, the HHS rules will apply to health insurance plans sold on either state or federal health care exchanges, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare, the Indian Health Service, and any health care provider who accepts federal funds. The rules will not apply to private health plans who neither accept Medicare or Medicaid and who offer insurance plans outside of the exchanges. While the rules do not specifically address programs such as veterans’ and military health care, those agencies are expected to implement the nondiscrimination provisions into their programs.
“The Department of Health and Human Service’s proposed rules have the potential to be life-saving for transgender people,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, remarked in a statement. “These rules will help finally make the promise of the Affordable Care Act real for transgender people — that they can find affordable health insurance that covers the essential care they need and doesn’t exclude care simply because of who they are.”
HHS will be accepting public comments on the proposed rules for 60 days.
Tyler Getchell of Jacksonville, Florida, has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting and partially paralyzing his neighbor, Kyle McFarlane, during an argument over what Getchell believed was trespassing.
McFarlane told police he was gathering discarded furniture for a bonfire on November 22 when Getchell and his girlfriend came outside and yelled at him to get off their property, First Coast News reported.
According to the police report, video footage shows McFarlane standing on a property easement -- not on his neighbors' land -- just before the shooting.
William Saki is celebrating his new “GAY” license plate after suing Ohio's Bureau of Motor Vehicles for initially rejecting his request. Saki, who lives in the LGBTQ-friendly Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, argued the plate simply reflected his identity as a gay man and should be protected as free speech.
When Saki previously entered “GAY” into the BMV’s online registration tool, it rejected the request as “Inappropriate/Invalid.” The term had been on a list of nearly 62,000 prohibited plate words since 1996.
Among those terms: "QUEER", "HOMO," and even "LESBIAN."
A video shows a Burger King manager -- who also owns the franchise -- ordering an irate female customer to leave after she tried to get an employee disciplined for allegedly misgendering her, despite the fact that she had repeatedly misgendered the worker first.
It’s unclear when the video was recorded, but it has been circulating widely in recent days.
The video, filmed from the customer’s point of view, opens with her at a Kansas Burger King demanding to speak with the manager. A male employee goes to get the manager, prompting the customer to demand the manager’s full name. The employee tells her he doesn’t know the manager’s last name.
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