Washington, DC (April 30, 2024) — The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) commends the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS OCR) for improving regulations implementing the Health Care Rights Law, also known as Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination in health care based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. The final rule published last Friday, updates, clarifies, and strengthens Section 1557 in covered health programs and activities.
“NACDD believes that this final rule will eliminate health care practices that exclude people with disabilities from health care programs and activities, and hold providers, insurers, and others accountable.” said Jill Jacobs, Executive Director for the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities. “Accessible health care is a promise of the Affordable Care Act that cannot be achieved without strong anti-discrimination enforcement.”
The new rules clarify that barriers to health care, such as language access, physical and digital accessibility, and bias in health technology, are forms of discrimination that are prohibited by Section 1557. The NACDD supports the inclusion of several important provisions of the final rule, including requiring covered health care entities to proactively let people know that language assistance services and accessibility services are available to patients at no cost, and clarifying that Section 1557 applies to prohibit discrimination based on sex, including LGTBQI+ patients.
Jacobs added, “We applaud HHS OCR for its efforts to confront discrimination against people with disabilities in all federal health programs like Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, the ACA’s state and federal Marketplaces and the plans sold through them, as well as other commercial health plans if the insurer receives any form of federal financial assistance.”
For more information, please contact Erin Prangley at eprangley@nacdd.org.
