{"id":39959,"date":"2026-08-12T03:42:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39959"},"modified":"2026-08-12T03:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T22:42:58","slug":"medicaid-will-stop-paying-for-some-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-minors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39959","title":{"rendered":"Medicaid will stop paying for some gender-affirming care for transgender minors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors and the state Children&#8217;s Health Insurance Program won&#8217;t pay for the treatments for those under 19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The announcement is the latest in a series of policies from the administration aimed at transgender people that began <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-sex-gender-transgender-dei-order-245350b97e0c4dcc221fefc49ef44699\">the day Trump returned to office<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The policy is to take effect Oct. 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/transgender-genderaffirming-care-supreme-court-a04ab2f808175dbca1be6d90fe575611\">gender-affirming treatments<\/a> for transgender youth now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to questions about the policy on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">At least 27 states have already banned gender-affirming care for those under 18. Even in states that haven\u2019t, many major hospitals have stopped providing some of the treatments. And gender-affirming surgeries for minors are rare. Puberty blockers and hormone treatments are more common.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The policy calls for Medicaid and CHIP to continue to pay for mental health treatment for transgender minors but phase out coverage of hormone treatments that are used both to block puberty and to produce sex-related physical changes for those already receiving them as of April 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that he directed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, to make the change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,\u201d Trump said in his post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Advocates for LGBTQ+ young people look at it differently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders legal director Josh Rovenger said the rule \u201cis putting up barriers between parents and their ability to make the best medical decisions for their children\u201d and would face a legal challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThe Trump administration is terrorizing trans youth and their families with these kinds of actions, and it has to stop,\u201d Human Right Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">HRC is already suing the administration for efforts to bar gender-affirming care coverage under federal employee benefit plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The American Medical Association and most other major medical organizations support access to gender-affirming care, though the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said earlier this year that it found \u201cinsufficient evidence\u201d that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria \u2014 or the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don&#8217;t match \u2014 outweigh the risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-hhs-rfk-transgender-therapy-medicaid-64262c23cd1fb562a5d5e191d397014e\">administration has already announced<\/a> it would cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for minors, along with <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-transgender-sports-maine-51322764e6a62c6bbed700bbe7ecfb4d\">barring transgender athletes<\/a> from sports competitions for girls and women and blocking people from being able to choose male, female or X to designate their sex on passports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It also <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-hhs-rfk-transgender-therapy-53c20e8ba65b2d9e4750d5c3314492cc\">released a report<\/a> last year urging therapy only for transgender youth and not broader gender-affirming health care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Most of the changes have faced legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court let the administration&#8217;s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-transgender-nonbinary-passport-sex-marker-5040c6412e06a072889af30cfae97462\">passport policy<\/a> stand and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-transgender-athletes-school-teams-e01548be1fc0f574d9c274e077414075\">allowed states<\/a> to enforce the sports bans. A <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/transgender-health-care-lawsuit-ruling-robert-kennedy-25adf96f745c5364c2ebf8c3f27cab71\">lower court ruled<\/a> against the administration&#8217;s declaration that called the treatments unsafe and ineffective. A challenge over the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-hospitals-dfc156f4bffcf4b6136658207488d17d\">policy targeting hospitals<\/a> is still pending.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors and the state Children&#8217;s Health Insurance Program won&#8217;t pay for the treatments for those under 19. The announcement is the latest in a series of policies from the administration aimed at transgender people that began the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/7c6a7a35-348d-44cc-8e1c-cba13ec47da6\/wirestory_39722b01ab47a891bbca643a7ae5dde6_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}