Cuomo directs agencies to expand, affirm transgender health protections
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that he is directing state agencies to expand and affirm anti-discrimination protections for transgender New Yorkers seeking health care and insurance.
The action, Cuomo said, is in direct response to the Trump administration's plans to roll back an Obama-era rule from 2016 that prohibited doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people. Advocates said the rule helped increase access to gender-related treatments, as well as health care and insurance coverage in general.
"New York was founded upon the principles of fairness and equality and we won't stand idly by while Washington seeks to claw back hard-earned rights and protections," Cuomo said. "For every step the Trump Administration takes backwards, New York will take two steps forward, and these regulations will guarantee and expand protections for transgender New Yorkers to help ensure every resident has equal access to health care."
Approximately 90,300 transgender New Yorkers would be exposed to "unfair, blatant and unlawful discrimination" as a result of the Trump plan, Cuomo said.
Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Cuomo-directs-agencies-to-expand-affirm-13022164.php