Last week, the Trump administration released a rule that would, if allowed to take effect, prohibit federal Medicaid dollars from being used to provide care to transgender adolescents under 18, and federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds from covering care for transgender individuals under 19.
No federal law prohibits this care, which remains legal and protected in many states. This rule does not change that. Decades of research confirm that established medical care for transgender youth is effective, safe, and essential to their well-being.
This is why GLAD Law—along with thousands of others—opposed this effort when HHS first proposed it.
Said GLAD Law Legal Director Josh Rovenger:
The rule announced last week will face legal challenge. Federal courts have blocked previous efforts by the Trump administration to use funding threats to override states’ longstanding authority to regulate medical care, including transgender health care. Thus far, Courts have consistently and resoundingly rejected the administration’s efforts to abandon the patients and families who rely on this care.
“The federal government is putting up barriers between parents and their ability to make the best medical decisions for their children. That should be chilling to every American. With this rule, the Trump administration is once again holding vital health care funding hostage – pressuring states and providers to fall in line with its political agenda, not sound medicine.
Families of transgender children want what every family wants: for their kids to be happy, healthy, and able to get the care they need. Nothing in this rule changes the fact that transgender health care is established medicine, backed by decades of research, and legal and protected in many states. Providers do not need to change how they deliver this care. States can and should step up to ensure funding and infrastructure keep it accessible. This rule is cruel, it’s wrong, and it will not stand up to legal scrutiny.”
— from a GLAD Law (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) press release
More: gladlaw.org