Obamacare Eliminates Discrimination
Obamacare eliminates discrimination. That is its next target after making sure that everybody has health insurance. As of this Thursday, transgender discrimination in the health care system was proposed to be banned. It is part of a larger process to combat this unfair approach and if the proposed regulation is accepted, the insurance coverage for gender transition will be greatly expanded. It is a bold proposition that can only have positive consequences.
The proposal comes as a part of greater rules established by the Department of Health and Human Services which wants to guarantee anti-bias provisions. In short, it has a role to play in President Obama’s healthcare law. The law specifically mentioned that sex-based discrimination is illegal and now the gender identity is also being moved into the safe zone.
The director of Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Michael Silverman, is looking forward to this new development. Silverman declared that “this is a huge step” and the truth is that this feature will not only benefit transgender people, it will also work as a social mechanism, boosting acceptance among the American people and ensuring that everyone receives the care that they need.
What is interesting is that this proposal comes in a time of great social attitude changes regarding gender and sexuality. Not long ago, the Supreme Court recognized and accepted same-sex marriages. This new wave of awareness has also risen with Olympian Bruce Jenner’s desire to switch gender to female Caitlyn.
Jocelyn Samuels, the head of the HHS for Civil Rights has assured that this new rule will not exactly require insurers to cover gender transition treatments such as surgery, yet we must agree that insurers will perhaps encounter many situations in the future if men perceive themselves as women and vice versa. Still, this is an issue that need to be tackled after the law is set.
The new Obamacare specification raises a great number of questions regarding normality as well. We are faced with the reality that normality is not exactly what we perceive it, or what generations before perceived it. A family with one husband, one wife and one baby was deemed “normal” before our times and gender transition was not only difficult, but very frowned upon.
Nowadays normality is change and the freedom that every individual has to do as they please. Same-sex marriage is normal, gender transition is normal and doing whatever you want with your body is normal. Thus, we should not discriminate people because they want to live differently, especially when it comes to health.
Photo Credits flickr.com
