Get the Facts: Federal Rules Threaten Healthcare for Trans Youth

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed three new rules that, if finalized, would severely restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth. As of today, there should be no disruption of care. 

There is a required 60 day public comment period for the funding related proposals, and we anticipate lawsuits will be filed. However, if these proposals are allowed to go into effect, hospitals will likely have no choice but to discontinue providing hormonal and surgical gender-affirming care to youth in order to maintain their ability to provide any care. 

Rocky Mountain Equality is preparing to oppose these rules and will continue fighting to protect access to evidence-based care for everyone, including transgender youth.

Here’s what the rules would do:

• Block Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for hormonal and surgical gender-affirming care. This affects people under 18 covered by Medicaid and under 19 for CHIP.

• Remove Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals and providers that offer gender-affirming care to youth, even if those services are paid for by the patient or private insurance, putting nearly all hospitals at risk if they continue to provide gender-affirming care to youth.

• Exclude gender identity from definitions in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This limits people's ability to seek disability-related recourse for medical discrimination and reasonable accommodations based on their transgender status.
  

Gender-affirming care includes a range of evidence-based treatments such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and in some cases surgeries. Gender-affirming care surgeries for youth are extremely rare.

What to do:

• If your child loses access to care, contact us at casemanagement@rmequality.org for help finding referrals and other resources. 

• If you are looking for support as a parent, check out our parent groups. 

• If you are looking for support for your youth aged 12+, check out our youth program. 
  

And most importantly, even in the face of federal attacks on healthcare, families can protect their children’s mental and emotional health by respecting their identities, affirming the names and pronouns they choose, and allowing them to explore their identity through clothing and other gender-affirming items.