Change comes through action.
We each have a voice and combined we can make sure our desires for change are heard.
We each have a voice and combined we can make sure our desires for change are heard.
Stop CMS from Stripping Civil Rights Protections from Patients (8/2019)
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), which is responsible for administering large parts of the ACA, has proposed a rule change to their Civil Rights Department, specifically to Section 1557 of the ACA, also known as the Health Care Rights Law. The current law prohibits discrimination in health care based on color, race, immigration status, language proficiency, gender, sex stereotypes, gender identity, age, or disability.
The proposed rule change would strip the current protections for potentially at-risk populations, including the LGBTQ+ population - especially transgender patients, women seeking reproductive health services - including abortion services, those for whom English is not a native language and need translation services guaranteed under the ACA, immigrants, and more. Stripping these protections could allow medical providers and insurance companies to deny needed medical care an coverage for any of the above reasons. Further it would make it difficult for those being denied coverage or care to know their rights or to access care. The administration has also floated the eventual removal of protections based on race if this rule change is approved.
Comments are needed to OPPOSE this rule change during the open comment period that ends on August 13, 2019. Follow this link to make comments directly to CMS, or follow this link to a page set up by Community Catalyst with more information and sharable graphics to get the word out.
It is critical that we oppose this proposed rule change and let CMS know that #WeOBJECT to their suggestion that civil rights protections in health care be stripped from some of our most at risk populations.
NOTE: At this time, CMS has chosen not to make the comments so far submitted public, so they have not been published as comments to other proposed changes have been prior to the deadline. Click on the button toward the top of the page that says "Comment Now" to add your comment today, then share this information with everyone you know.
Below is a sharable graphics for social media. It is up to us to make some noise and get this proposed rule change stopped.
Graphic to OPPOSE changes Rule 1557 of the ACA.