1st Gay President Barack Obama Makes It Easier For Men To Use Women's Bathrooms In Hospitals

HuffPo.com:

The Obama administration is making a major push for transgender rights by prohibiting health insurance companies and medical providers from discriminating against patients because of their gender identities. 

Under a proposed regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday, transgender people would be entitled to equal treatment in health care and would gain the legal right to make civil rights claims against insurers, doctors, hospitals and others who deny them coverage or necessary care because they are transgender. That includes forbidding health insurers from categorically excluding treatments related to gender transitions.

Transgender people can face significant barriers to getting medical care, as insurers often won't cover treatments such as hormone therapy and mental health counseling, especially when this care is related to transitioning, and health care providers sometimes refuse care. According to a recent survey, more than 4 in 10 female-to-male transgender people reported discrimination in the health care system.

"Sadly, we have ample evidence that there continues to be a persistent problem with discrimination in the health care industry. We get thousands of complaints every year that challenge discrimination based on race, color, national origin, age, sex and disability," Jocelyn Samuels, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. 

Last month, the department announced that the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York had agreed to change its policies to ensure equal treatment of transgender patients after a woman complained the hospital forced her to share a room with a male patient.

The health care regulation is the latest in a series of actions President Barack Obama has taken to advance transgender rights, including tangible steps like making it easier for people to get new passports that reflect their gender identity and symbolic gestures like mentioning transgender people during his State of the Union address.

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