On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a sweeping regulatory proposal that effectively prohibits gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. This move is viewed as a significant escalation of the current administration’s efforts to scale back protections for transgender individuals.
According to AFP, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials outlined a plan during a press conference that would completely eliminate federal funding for hospitals providing gender-affirming care. This regulation applies to medical facilities offering treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for minors, even in states where such care is legal.
Secretary Kennedy characterized gender-affirming care as a medical error rooted in ideologically driven pseudoscience and continued to voice strong criticism. Earlier this year, the department released a report highlighting the risks associated with gender-affirming treatments, reportedly authored primarily by individuals critical of such medical practices.
The proposed regulations center on two key points. First, it would entirely prohibit Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income individuals, from covering costs related to gender-affirming care for minors. Second, hospitals providing this type of care would lose all federal funding from both Medicaid and Medicare, the insurance program for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Essentially, if a hospital continues to offer gender-affirming care, it would face a complete loss of crucial federal funding necessary for its operations. Critics in the medical community argue that this effectively coerces hospitals into discontinuing such treatments.
This regulatory proposal has not yet been finalized. It must undergo legal review, public hearings, and a period of public comment as part of the administrative process. However, AFP reports that significant legal challenges are anticipated even before its implementation.