The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
You cannot be turned away or charged more for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. You also can’t be denied coverage or charged more because of any pre-existing health condition, such as your HIV status. Insurers can’t limit how much they’ll spend on your medical care – over a year or over a lifetime.
Under the ACA, health programs that receive federal funding, such as Marketplace plans, Medicaid, and Medicare, among others, cannot discriminate based on sex. The Biden administration has said it will include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity under these sex nondiscrimination protections. Details on how this explicitly applies to plans and coverage are forthcoming but the administration has said it will enforce these protections. Notably though, the legal landscape is continuing to evolve, including with respect to the intersection of these protections and religious liberty protections for providers.
There are also other federal policies designed to protect you and your family. Virtually all hospitals must now allow visitation by a same-sex partner (whether or not you are married) and same-sex partners must be afforded the same treatment as other spouses for long-term care, such as nursing home care under Medicaid. In addition, same-sex couples (whether or not you are married) now have the same rights as others to name a representative to make medical decisions on a patient’s behalf.