AG Grewal Files Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Elimination of Anti-Discrimination Protections in Health Care – As COVID-19 Public Health Crisis Continues, the Challenged Rule Would Eliminate Protections Designed to Ensure Equal Access to Health Care

TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today joined a coalition of 23 Attorneys General in suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over a new rule that rolls back federal protections against discrimination in health care for women, LGBTQ individuals, persons with limited English proficiency, and others.

Filed today in U.S. District Court in New York, the lawsuit seeks to set aside the rule, which HHS finalized in June. The rule purports to implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act—the first federal civil rights law to comprehensively prohibit discrimination in health care—which prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. But, instead of implementing Section 1557, the rule strips several protected groups of important rights.

The Complaint asserts that the new rule—finalized during the global COVID-19 pandemic—“will impose unjustifiable barriers to health care on vulnerable populations at a time when access to care is as crucial as ever.”