Thread by @LambdaLegal

ICYMI: We're challenging @HHSGov's newly-published rule that would carve LGBTQ people and other vulnerable groups out of the Affordable Care Act's non-discrimination protections. #StopTheRule #ProtectTransHealth
lambdalegal.org/blog/20200709_…

Last week, our clients in this case (filed with @SteptoeLLP) filed declarations regarding the Revised Rule and how, specifically, it would impact them and the people they serve.

In this thread: Powerful selections from those declarations. #StopTheRule

From @TrevorProject: The rule will “adversely affect the mental health of at-risk #LGBTQ youth, many of whom are already reaching out to [us] in moments of suicidal ideation or crisis, in part because of their lack of faith in healthcare providers.”
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

After the 2016 election, “Many [@TrevorProject] callers, especially transgender and gender nonconforming youth, expressed that they were thinking about going back into the closet out of fear.”

The last thing they need is a health care rule that invites discrimination. Shameful.

Since HHS announced the finalization of the rule, @TransLifeline has seen a remarkable increase in calls—up from 155 in a typical day to 534 calls per day between June 12, 2020 and June 19, 2020.

Many calls were directly related to trans health care.
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

“It is particularly egregious for HHS to establish additional barriers to care for LGBT people during the global COVID-19 pandemic, when people may be in their most desperate times of need for medical care."—@Adrianshanker, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Center lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

“Nondiscrimination protections in health care are essential to ensure that LGBT people receive health care necessary to survive.”

That's it. That's the tweet. #StopTheRule

"By inviting discrimination against patients based on patients’ sexual orientation, gender identity, or transgender status, the Revised Rule cannot be reconciled w/the ethical standards that health care professionals are charged to uphold."—@AglPsychiatry lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

“As an organization of health professionals who serve and care for patients from the LGBTQ community, @GLMA_LGBTHealth GLMA knows that discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in health care access and coverage remains a pervasive problem.” lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

“If not enjoined, the Revised Rule will harm @GLMA_LGBTHealth members, the interests of the LGBTQ patients represented by GLMA, and GLMA members’ patients.”
Declaration includes hurtful experiences of patients who have experienced discrimination.
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

.@LALGBTCenter's co-Dir of Health Services, Dr. Ward Carpenter:
"Even before the Revised Rule was proposed or issued, I and the other providers that I supervise at the Center treated many patients who have experienced traumatic stigma and discrimination."
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

"When medical staff fail to care for every patient in the best way that they can, putting patients’ best interests at the center of medical care, medical mistrust is worsened, care is delayed, and health care becomes more expensive." #StopTheRule #ProtectTransHealth

“The Revised Rule is inherently demeaning and codifies our government’s belief that the health care needs of LGBTQ people are unimportant. This proposed rule is shameful.”— Dr Robert Bolan, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the @LALGBTCenter. #StopTheRule
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

From Darrel Cummings, @LALGBTCenter Chief of Staff: “A shocking number of LGBTQ patients fear going to a health care provider due to negative past experiences directly related to their sexual orientation, gender identity, or transgender status.”
lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

Arianna Inurritegui-Lint, founder of Arianna's Center, writes about her experiences as an immigrant and transgender woman living with HIV who speaks English as a second language, and how her experiences contributed to her founding her center. lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

“The Revised Rule’s removal of language access protections ... will also make it much more difficult for Arianna’s Center’s clients to be aware of their rights, which language services are available, how to access such services & how to handle discrimination & other complaints."

.@YoSoyLABamby of @TransLatina_C shares how negative experiences of discrimination and denial of care throughout her life have created apprehension about seeking medical care in her powerful declaration: lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

In her declaration, @YoSoyLABamby speaks about how beloved NYC-based transgender activist and @TransLatina_C member Lorena Borjas delayed seeking medical care for #COVID19 out of well-founded concerns about discrimination.

Discrimination in health care has deadly costs. 💔

"The Revised Rule deprives us of the clear nondiscrimination guidance the 2016 Final Rule provides to health care providers and insurers, and actually fosters discrimination against LGBTQ and limited English proficiency people." lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

In her declaration, Naseema Shafi of @whitmanwalker details several instances in which patients of the health center have experienced harmful anti-LGBTQ discrimination in health care elsewhere: lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal…

These declarations make patently clear: Discrimination in health care is disastrous. The newly-revised anti-trans health care rule would wreak havoc and harm countless LGBTQ people.

We're not backing down until we #StopTheRule.

Learn about our case: lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases…