In a fight to preserve fairness in healthcare, Illinois' top legal eagle, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, has teamed up with a posse of 19 attorneys general to challenge a contentious 2020 federal rule that could allow discrimination in health services. An amicus brief was dropped today at the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, supporting a motion that would scrap a rule critics say undermines key protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
"We must not tolerate discrimination of any kind, particularly when it deprives people of their right to access quality health care," Raoul remarked. The group of attorneys general, hailing from states as varied as California to Maine, stress the rule throws a wrench in the cogs of Section 1557 of the ACA, which has until now barred discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in healthcare programs with federal funding.
According to a statement from the Illinois Attorney General's office, the challenged rule, put in place in June 2020, does away with obstacles preventing insurers from discriminating against individuals including LGBTQ+ folks, those with limited English skills, and others in protected classes.
The controversial rule was put in the legal crosshairs by civil rights and reproductive health care advocates in July 2020, spearheaded by the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (BAGLY). They've dubbed it arbitrary, and capricious, and alleged it outright clashes with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), alongside its apparent disregard for the well-being of transgender individuals and those who don't speak much English.
In the heat of the legal battle, Raoul and the coalition have painted a grim picture of a future where the rule stands, arguing it's a step backward by narrowing protections, giving unfair exemptions, and neglecting the harms such discrimination can seed. Above all, they're hammering home the message that equitable access to health care isn't merely a social good—it's a necessity.
These attorneys general aren't going it alone, either. They've enlisted support from a swath of the nation, with counterparts in states from New Jersey to Oregon standing shoulder to shoulder in this fight against healthcare inequity.
