BREAKING: New Trump Rules Aim to Make Health Care for Trans Youth Inaccessible Across the Country

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, responded to a series of draft notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that, taken together, aim to put best-practice, medically necessary health care for trans youth nearly entirely out of reach in this country. The two rules would: 

• Bar any hospital that provides best practice, medically necessary health care for trans youth (which the Trump administration defines as including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery operations) from participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs (which nearly every hospital in the country participates in); and
• Prohibit Medicaid funds from covering any best practice, medically necessary health care for trans youth under the age of 18, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds from covering that care for trans youth under the age of 19. 

The public will have 60 days to comment on these rules, beginning tomorrow. HRC is encouraging members, supporters and LGBTQ+ allies to submit comments. 

These rules’ intent - and impact - is clear: to interfere in decisions best left to families and doctors and make this best-practice health care for trans youth inaccessible across the country, even in “blue” states and cities. The Trump administration aims to force providers into an impossible choice: stop providing health care to trans youth in order to protect federal funding for every other patient.

“The Trump administration is relentless in denying health care to this country, and especially the transgender community. Families deserve the freedom to go to the doctor and get the care that they need and to have agency over the health and wellbeing of their children,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “But these proposed actions would put Donald Trump and RFK Jr. in those doctor’s offices, ripping health care decisions from the hands of families and putting it in the grips of the anti-LGBTQ+ fringe. Make no mistake: these rules aim to completely cut off medically necessary care from children no matter where in this country they live. It’s the Trump Administration dictating who gets their prescription filled and who has their next appointment canceled altogether.

Let's be clear, these rules are proposals, not binding law. Community members, healthcare providers, administrators and our allies should be vocal in pushing back by sharing the ways these proposals would be devastating to their families and the healthcare community at large. We'll be there right with you, fighting this every step of the way.”

In addition to the above rules from CMS, the FDA also announced it is issuing warning letters to manufacturers and retailers of breast binders, claiming their marketing for these items violates federal law. Likewise, HHS announced another proposed rule to reverse actions taken by the Biden administration to expressly include nondiscrimination protections for gender dysphoria under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

Health care for transgender youth is best practice, medically necessary care that is supported by every major medical organization and backed by science. In many cases, the care transgender people receive is the same as people who are not transgender - just for a different reason. Parents, their kids, and doctors must be able to make decisions together in the best interest of the child, without interference from politicians. Get the facts about best-practice health care for trans youth at this link.

Today’s announcement is the latest example of the obsession the Trump administration and their MAGA enablers in Congress have with attacking the transgender community. Just this week, the U.S. House of Representatives took up two separate bills to target health care for trans youth, including a bill that could put doctors and parents in jail for ten years, instead of tackling expiring ACA tax credits. 

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people, with 3.6 million members and supporters. The HRC Foundation (a 501(c)(3)) works to ensure LGBTQ+ people are safe, seen and supported where it matters most: at school, at work and in every community across the country. From the courtroom to the classroom, from Congress to corporate America, HRC and the HRC Foundation build power through partnerships, storytelling, and action—working to create a future rooted in equity, freedom and belonging for all LGBTQ+ people.

###