Trump administration blocks Medicaid funding for trans youth healthcare
Trump accused the “Dumocrat Party” of encouraging children to “chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote"
By Callum Wells
The Trump administration has barred federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding from being used for gender-affirming care for transgender young people.
Due to take effect on 13 October, the new rule applies to Medicaid patients under 18 and CHIP recipients under 19.
The restrictions cover puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries. The treatments themselves have not been made illegal by the rule, but states, families and private insurers will have to cover the costs where federal funding previously applied.
Who will be able to keep their federal coverage?
Medicaid and CHIP provide health coverage to around 35.5 million children in the US. The administration estimates the policy will save about $235 million (£174m) over 10 years.
Patients already receiving hormone therapy through the programmes will be able to keep their federal coverage for a limited period. Coverage for those treatments is expected to end by April 2027, while mental health services for transgender young people will remain eligible for funding.
The rule followed a public consultation that received more than 35,000 responses, with more than 90 per cent opposing the proposal.
Trump announced the change on Truth Social, writing that Medicaid “will NO LONGER fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors”.
“Just think about all of the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared!” – Donald Trump on Truth Social
“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,” Trump wrote yesterday (11 August). “Just think about all of the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared!”
He also accused the “Dumocrat Party” of encouraging children to “chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote”.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the government was “ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children”.
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” said Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The policy has drawn opposition from medical and LGBTQ+ organisations
“By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish,” he added.
The policy has drawn opposition from medical and LGBTQ+ organisations. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are among the medical bodies that support gender-affirming care for young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
“This rule is a dangerous restriction on doctor-prescribed health care,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, senior vice president of public engagement campaigns at The Trevor Project.
“Personal medical decisions should be made by individual patients, their doctors, and their families — not by a one-size-fits-all mandate from the federal government,” he said.
Legal challenges are expected, with LGBTQ+ organisations already preparing to challenge the policy.