The Obama administration announced a new rule barringdiscrimination in health care based on a number of differentpersonal characteristics.

According to a statement from the Department of Health and HumanServices, the new rule prohibits discrimination in health carebased on “race, color, national origin, age, disability and sex” aswell as pregnancy and gender identity.

The rule is the finalized version of a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act(PPACA) that barred discrimination in health carebased on sex. PPACA supporters touted that provision during thedebate over the landmark health law in 2010 as a way to finallyprohibit insurers from charging women more for coverage thanmen.

The entities affected by the rule include all insurers orproviders that receive federal funds, either through programs suchas Medicare and Medicaid, or through the PPACA insurancemarketplace.

“A central goal of the Affordable Care Act is to help allAmericans access quality, affordable health care. Today’sannouncement is a key step toward realizing equity within ourhealth care system and reaffirms this Administration's commitmentto giving every American access to the health care they deserve,"said HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

The new rule also specifies certain accommodations of thedisabled that will be required of health care providers, includingaccess to facilities. They must also “provide meaningful access toindividuals with limited English proficiency.”

The new rule notably does not reference sexual orientation,which the department acknowledged in its statement, saying that itwas not clear whether the PPACA provision that bars gender-baseddiscrimination could also be interpreted to include protectionsbased on sexual preference.

“HHS supports prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination as amatter of policy and will continue to monitor legal developments onthis issue,” said the statement.

The department also acknowledged potential exemptions to therule for entities that claim the right to discriminate based onreligious beliefs. The importance of that point was underscoredMonday when the Supreme Court decided not to rule on a challengefrom religious groups to the PPACA’s contraception mandate,ordering lower courts to try to seek a compromise between thefederal government and the plaintiffs.