The Trump administration has announced an end to Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for minors, with President Donald Trump directing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement the new policy. The move, revealed Tuesday evening on the social media platform Truth Social, will halt federal funding for treatments including puberty blockers, hormones, and gender-transition surgeries for individuals under the age of 18.
In a statement, Trump said, "We 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." He noted that several hospitals across the United States have already ceased performing such procedures. Trump also criticized Democrats, stating, "While the Democrat Party wants your kids to be able to chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote, President Donald J Trump (ME!) and the Republican Party say that is ABSURD and we will protect America's children."
The new rule is set to take effect on October 13. While federal funds will be discontinued, state funds could potentially still be used to cover these treatments. According to the health policy organization KFF, at least 27 states have already moved to restrict gender-affirming care for children.
However, data suggests that gender-affirming surgeries are rare among minors. A study published last year in JAMA Pediatrics analyzed insurance claims for over five million patients aged 8 to 17 between 2018 and 2022. Researchers found that fewer than 1,000 adolescents received puberty blockers and fewer than 2,000 received hormones during that period. These treatments were prescribed to less than 0.1 percent of all youth in the database. "We are not seeing inappropriate use of this sort of care," said Landon Hughes, a public health researcher at Harvard University and a study author. "And it's certainly not happening at the rate at which people often think it is."
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, condemned the funding cuts. "Every young person is entitled to the health care that they, their parents, and their medical providers agree that they need, without politicians interfering with these important and highly personal decisions," said HRC President Kelley Robinson. "And yet, rather than working to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, the Trump administration continues to obsess over the healthcare needs of trans youth, this time by cutting off health insurance coverage."