TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ATTACKS ON TRANS SERVICE MEMBERS AND WORKING AMERICANS’ HEALTHCARE ARE INTOLERABLE ASSAULTS ON THE MOST VULNERABLE
SAN FRANCISCO – This morning President Trump mounted another divisive attack on transgender Americans, banning transgender people from serving in the military – the largest employer in the world – in any capacity. Make no mistake: the timing of this incendiary announcement is not coincidental, as we are in the final, most critical days and hours of the battle to preserve the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We will not tolerate this administration making pariahs of these extraordinarily brave Americans, and neither will we be distracted from the work of defending working families’ critical health care support.
LGBTQ Americans have historically been disproportionately under-insured, and have gained coverage through the ACA at a much higher rate than non-LGBT people.1 The ACA is critical to transgender Americans in particular: it prohibits sex discrimination, including anti-transgender discrimination, by the vast majority of insurance companies and health care providers. In every state, under the ACA, transition-related care cannot be excluded, and providers must treat you with respect and according to your gender identity.
An estimated one million LGBT people would lose coverage by 2026 under the House bill; while exactly what the Senate is about to vote on in the coming days remains shrouded in secrecy and confusion, it is no secret that any slashing of the ACA will harm millions of American families.
“We are well aware that today’s outrageous and unfounded attack on trans military service personnel is timed to distract us from our work to block the repeal of the ACA,” says Our Family Coalition Executive Director Renata Moreira. “These fights cannot be seen as separate. We rededicate ourselves these final days and hours to doing all we can to block repeal of ACA, in the name of all the transgender Americans whose well-being depends on it, on behalf of all the millions and millions of families who would be physically and financially devastated without it. This is a long game, and we must stay in it – together – ‘til the work is done.”
[available as a Press Release PDF here]
- “Media Advisory: The House Health Care Bill Would Have a Negative Impact on LGBT People,” May 2, 2017.
[photo credit: Faith DaBrooke]
