Accessing Healthcare
Access to health care is vital to one’s livelihood and independence. Southern Legal Counsel advocates to ensure that health care is available to all Floridians regardless of their ability to pay. Further, the State must be held accountable to not provide services in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner.
Main Topics of Focus in Our Work
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Southern Legal Counsel has been leading the fight for access to gender-affirming healthcare since 2020, and the need for this work has never been greater.
We currently have three (3) separate federal lawsuits against the state of Florida challenging discriminatory bans on gender-affirming medical care.
In Jane Doe, et al., v. Surgeon General Ladapo, et al., Case No. 4:23-cv-00114 (N.D. Fla. 2023), we challenged the Florida Boards of Medicine rules banning doctors from prescribing medically necessary gender-affirming care to minors. Our partners in that litigation, which was filed on behalf of four incredible parents seeking to ensure appropriate medical care for their transgender children, include the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), GLAD, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
In Dekker v. Weida, Case No. 4:22-cv-00325 (N.D. Fla. 2022), we challenged the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration’s (AHCA) discriminatory ban prohibiting Florida’s Medicaid program from covering treatments for gender dysphoria. We filed the lawsuit, challenging the rule under the Equal Protection Clause, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, and the Medicaid Act, alongside our fearless partners at Florida Health Justice Project, Lambda Legal, National Health Law Program, and pro bono law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
In Claire v. Florida Department of Management Servives, 4:20-cv-00020 (N.D. Fla. 2020), we challenged the state’s blanket exclusion of gender-affirming care in all health insurance plans offered to state employees. The denial of equal benefits violates the rights of all transgender state employees under Title VII, and violates their Equal Protection rights to be free from sex discrimination. Our partners in that suit are the ACLU of Florida and Legal Services of Greater Miami. (LSGMI).
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In an effort to reduce the health-harming legal needs of children served by the University of Florida (UF), Southern Legal Counsel is partnering with UF Pediatrics to offer the Healthy Kids MLP to UF’s pediatric patients.
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Living in the community rather than a nursing home or institution allows people with disabilities to live, learn and work just like anyone else. Attending religious services, playing basketball, watching movies, dining out - these are life activities that provide meaning and dignity. SLC’s longstanding advocacy has succeeded in transitioning thousands of people from institutions into community settings. SLC also works to ensure that persons with disabilities receive home and community-based services (such as those provided by Medicaid waiver programs) so that they have the assistance they need to live safely in the community instead of being unnecessarily confined to an institution. Below are a few of the cases in which SLC has fought for people with disabilities and achieved significant reform in the State’s system of providing them services.
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According to the CDC, mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Southern Legal counsel works to ensure that adequate mental health services are available to children and adults living in poverty and provided in a non-discriminatory manner.