Press Release  AG Campbell Co-leads Multistate Effort To Vacate Trump Administration Rule That Eliminated Anti-Discrimination Protections In Health Care

Boston — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has co-led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (BAGLY), et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), et al., filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The amicus brief supports the plaintiffs’ motion to vacate the Trump Administration’s 2020 federal rule (the 2020 Rule), which strips nondiscrimination protections for transgender individuals and other vulnerable populations in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  

The plaintiffs, a group of civil rights and reproductive health advocacy organizations, challenged the Rule as arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), stressing the serious health and social harms that it imposes on underserved populations. In the brief, the states stress the importance of upholding the nondiscrimination protections of Section 1557 in ensuring equitable access to health care. 

“In light of the unprecedented attacks on health care access from state legislatures across this country – including attacks on gender affirming care, birthing people, and immigrants – it is critically important that we expand access to health care, not eliminate the anti-discrimination protections relied on by so many,” said AG Campbell. “I am proud to co-lead this multistate effort to stop this discriminatory rule and help ensure health care access for all.” 

Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits all health programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating against individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. On June 19, 2020, the Trump Administration dramatically revised and narrowed Section 1557 regulations by eliminating protections against discrimination based on sex and gender in disregard of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status is sex discrimination. The Trump Administration’s rule also removed protections for persons seeking reproductive health care or with pregnancy-related conditions and for limited-English-proficiency individuals.  

Plaintiffs in BAGLY v. HHS filed a lawsuit on July 9, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging the Rule. The court allowed many of the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed after the HHS filed a motion to dismiss the case, and plaintiffs now have filed a motion for summary judgment to void and vacate the Rule. 

In the amicus brief, the states support plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, arguing that the Rule: 

• Limits protections by narrowing the categories of health care programs and activities in which consumers are protected; 
• Removes protections for transgender individuals; 
• Unlawfully expands “exemptions” to Section 1557’s protections; and 
• Fails to consider the harmful impacts of the Rule, such as harms to health care access by transgender individuals and limited English proficient individuals. 

The brief also stresses the amici states’ perspective on the importance of upholding these federal nondiscrimination protections, as well as the individual and social benefits of ensuring equitable access to health care. 

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here. 

Joining AG Campbell in filing this amicus brief, which AG Campbell has co-led with the Attorneys General of California and New York, are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.  

In Massachusetts, this matter was handled by Deputy State Solicitor David Kravitz of the Office of the State Solicitor and Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Parr of the AG’s Constitutional and Administrative Law Division. 

This matter is AG Campbell’s latest effort to further her recently announced strategic priorities to advance opportunity for all across the Commonwealth, particularly through fostering health equity and access by protecting against discrimination.  

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