A group of more than 20 states and cities is taking the Trump administration to federal court over a rule allowing businesses and individuals to refuse healthcare services on religious or moral grounds.
The so-called “conscience” rule is set to take effect in July.
Although it has largely been viewed through an abortion-rights lens, LGBTQ advocates have argued that the rule could limit access or allow discrimination in a range of healthcare settings — including religious-based long-term care facilities.
A panel of healthcare advocates and seniors from the LGBTQ community raised that exact issue during a public panel in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Three-quarters of LGBT people say they worry about having family who will provide support in older age, and more than one-third expect they’ll have to hide their identity to find suitable senior housing, according to a survey cited by Kaiser Health News.
Trump’s Health and Human Services Administration created a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division last year and finalized its conscience rule on May 2.
Court documents filed Tuesday in New York said the rule would allow anyone from a receptionist to an emergency room physician to refuse care in violation of a patient’s constitutional rights. The Department of Health and Human Services has said the rule protects employees who object to certain health-care procedures for religious reasons.
According to Bloomberg News, the plaintiffs risk billions of dollars in federal healthcare funding if they don’t allow the rule to stand locally.
“The federal government is giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients — a gross misinterpretation of religious freedom that will have devastating consequences on communities throughout the country,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
