The Trump administration on Thursday proposed regulations that would strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors, effectively forcing medical facilities nationwide to halt such treatments.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the sweeping proposals alongside the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), marking the administration's most aggressive effort yet to restrict access to puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical interventions for transgender youth. Kennedy characterized these treatments as "malpractice" that fail to meet professional standards of care.
Banning Transgender Care for Minors
The proposed rules would bar hospitals and clinics from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs if they continue offering gender-affirming treatments to patients under 19. CMS officials stated that nearly all U.S. hospitals engage with these federal programs, meaning the regulations function as a de facto nationwide ban, according to the Los Angeles Times. A separate proposal would prohibit Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program funds from covering such procedures.
"This measure aims to ensure that the U.S. government does not partner with organizations that intentionally or unintentionally cause irreversible harm to children," CMS stated in its announcement.
Read more: New Zealand Government Bans Young Transgender Individuals From Accessing Puberty Blockers
The proposals are subject to a 60-day public comment period before implementation. Medical organizations immediately criticized the measures. Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, argued that "allowing the government to determine patient groups sets a dangerous precedent" and emphasized that care decisions should remain between patients, families, and healthcare providers rather than politicians.
The American Civil Liberties Union announced plans to legally challenge the regulations, with attorney Chase Strangio describing them as "cruel and unconstitutional attacks on the rights of transgender youth and their families," CNN reported. California Attorney General Rob Bonta also vowed to fight the rules, calling them unlawful and noting that gender-affirming care remains protected under California state law.
Targeting Hospitals Nationwide
The announcement coincided with the House passing legislation sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would criminalize healthcare providers who administer transgender care to minors, with potential prison sentences of up to 10 years. The bill faces uncertain prospects in the Senate.
Several major hospitals have already curtailed gender-affirming services under federal pressure. Children's Hospital Los Angeles closed its decades-old gender clinic in June, while Stanford Medicine and Kaiser Permanente in California suspended certain treatments. Similar reductions occurred at facilities in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts condemned the administration's actions as "entirely fueled by hate" and lacking medical or scientific evidence, as per WGBH.
