New Gender Identity Rule Will Moot Texas Lawsuit, HHS Says

A proposed Trump administration rule narrowing the reach of Obamacare’s nondiscrimination clause to exclude gender identity would moot litigation over the Obama-era interpretation, the government said.

The Health and Human Services Department May 31 asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to put on hold a case challenging the Obama-era mandate until after its new rule is finalized. The new rule will end the dispute, it said.

The challenged rule said the HHS would consider health-care providers’ denials of care or health insurers’ denials of coverage on the basis of gender identity or termination of pregnancy ...