The Biden administration has appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge blocked a new healthcare rule aimed at preventing discrimination based on gender identity.
Last week, attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal, marking the first step in challenging the preliminary injunction issued on July 3 by U.S. District Judge William Jung in Tampa.
The legal battle began on May 6, when Florida filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
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The lawsuit came shortly after the finalization of a rule designed to enforce a federal law that prohibits discrimination in healthcare programs receiving federal funding. The rule extends the definition of discrimination based on “sex” to include gender identity.
Florida’s lawsuit argues that the new federal rule seeks to override state-imposed restrictions on transgender health care and could jeopardize funding for the state’s healthcare programs and managed-care plans.
In his decision to issue the preliminary injunction, Judge Jung wrote that Florida had demonstrated the potential for “imminent injury,” with state agencies such as the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees Medicaid, and the Department of Management Services, which manages state-employee health insurance, caught between conflicting state and federal rules.
“The plaintiff agencies and the healthcare providers they regulate must either clearly violate Florida law, or clearly violate the new rule,” Jung wrote in his ruling.
The appeal seeks to overturn this injunction and allow the Biden administration’s health-care rule to take effect.
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