The Trump administration announced Tuesday that federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds will no longer be used to pay for sex-rejecting procedures for minors, with the new rule set to take effect Oct. 13.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said the rule will prohibit federal funding for procedures and treatments related to gender transition for children and teenagers. Children who are already receiving hormone therapy will be given a transition period of up to six months after the rule takes effect.
President Donald Trump celebrated the move in a post announcing that Medicaid would no longer fund gender-transition surgeries or hormones for minors.
“We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices,” Trump wrote, arguing that the procedures can cause irreversible harm.
Trump also stated that pressure from his administration had already prompted dozens of hospitals across the country to discontinue such procedures and predicted that additional institutions would follow.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likewise defended the policy, saying the federal government should not use taxpayer dollars to fund procedures he characterized as carrying serious risks and lacking sufficient evidence of benefit.
“Today, we are ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children,” Kennedy said. “These interventions carry serious risks and can cause irreversible harm.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the decision was intended both to protect minors and prevent federal healthcare dollars from being spent on treatments the administration considers inadequately supported by evidence.
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” Oz said.
The final rule does not eliminate federal funding for mental health services provided to minors, according to CMS.
The administration’s announcement represents another major step in Trump’s broader effort to restrict government support for gender-transition treatments for minors. Trump has repeatedly made opposition to such procedures a central part of his administration’s healthcare and cultural policies.
In his announcement, Trump also urged voters to consider the issue when heading to the polls in the November midterm elections, portraying the policy as part of a broader Republican effort to restrict medical interventions involving children.
