MD Trans advocates push for healthcare privacy bill to move forward

MARYLAND – Trans healthcare advocates are pushing for a bill to protect the privacy of patients and providers to move forward in the Maryland House after passing the Senate.

A recent executive order from Governor Wes Moore made the information about gender-affirming care, unable to be accessed by other states, who may want to criminalize the patient or provider.

But this bill makes the protections permanent under state law, and not subject to reversal by a future administration.

Advocates say this means information about treatment remains something between a doctor and a patient, not other states looking to criminalize them.

“To protect essentially the private health care data for people who receive care in Maryland for gender-related reasons, from outside requests for information from other states, protecting the rights of folks who come to our state or who live in our state from that sort of intrusive invasions of their privacy, private health care information,” said Maryland Commission for LGBTQIA+ Affairs Commissioner M Pease.

They tell 47ABC the commission has formally endorsed their support for the legislation, however, it’s unclear if insurance providers, who operate across state lines, would be subject to the law under its current language.