Executive Summary
In courts and through regulatory action, the Biden-Harris administration is vigorously working to address health equity. This includes strengthening the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) nondiscrimination requirements. On August 4, 2022, the administration released a proposed rule that would reinstate key provisions of the ACA’s nondiscrimination requirements repealed by the prior administration. The proposed rule, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR), also includes new provisions responding to recent legal and policy developments.
This issue brief provides background on § 1557, the Biden-Harris administration’s 2022 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2022 Proposed Rule), and what you can do to support these important legal protections. For the purposes of this issue brief, we refer to three different § 1557 regulations: 2016 Final Regulations (issued by the Obama Administration), 2020 Final Regulations (issued by the Trump Administration), and the 2022 Proposed Rule (issued by the Biden Administration).
