HHS Appeals LGBTQ-Friendly Decision in Obamacare Regulation Row

The Health and Human Services Department is appealing a September federal district court decision barring it from enforcing a rule that would allow certain religious organizations to discriminate against LGBTQ people in connection with health care.

The agency filed its notice of appeal Oct. 31 in a case brought by Whitman-Walker Clinic Inc., health-care providers, and advocates for LGBTQ people. The plaintiffs challenged HHS’s rewrite of a rule implementing the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination provision, Section 1557.

HHS in 2020 repealed language in the rule that made it clear that health-care providers may not discriminate against people based on their ...