In our final blog post on a series of Section 1557 blog posts, the NDNRC will be covering which entities are covered by the rules and what people with disabilities need to know. The 2024 final rules for Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act was covered in our previous blog post; these new rules helped further strengthen the law that helped prohibit discrimination based off many identities, including disability.
The 2024 final rules require that covered entities make reasonable modifications to any policies, practices, or procedures that take place in their health programs to mitigate discrimination based on a person’s disability. They must also develop and maintain effective communication procedures (see our NDNRC factsheet on communication needs for people with disabilities).
The entities covered by the news rules are those which receive federal financial assistance, including state Medicaid agencies, Medicare, most health insurance plans, and hospitals, along with providers. The Trump Administration implemented rules in 2020 that limited Section 1557’s reach to only include Marketplace plans, which significantly narrowed the scope of disability non-discrimination rules under the Affordable Care Act. The American Association on Health and Disability provided comments of concern in 2019 on the proposed rule that the Trump Administration eventually issued.
The new 2024 final rules promulgated by the Biden Administration would place strict non-discrimination rules on the basis of disability and broaden the meaning of “covered entities,” effectively restoring the original goals of Section 1557 and the Affordable Care Act in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. The 2024 new rules would also consider, for the first time, Medicare Part B as a recipient of financial assistance from the federal government for the purposes of 1557.
The Kaiser Family Foundation broke down what this means and discussed how these increased protections apply to these covered entities, including protections that would also apply to products sold by issuers that have plans on the marketplace. Additionally, more information can be found through the National Health Law Program in their Section 1557 coverage.