President Donald J. Trump has moved to end federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funding for certain gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors, saying taxpayer-funded programs should not cover procedures his administration considers harmful.
The new rule directs Medicaid to stop covering gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors, while CHIP will no longer fund those treatments for individuals under 19. Mental health services for transgender youth will remain covered.
Trump said he directed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to implement the change.
“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 said.
The policy is set to take effect on October 13. Coverage for some existing hormone treatments is expected to be phased out by April 2027.
The move expands Trump’s broader push to restrict federal support for gender-related medical care involving minors. The administration argues that children should be protected from irreversible medical interventions before adulthood.
At least 27 states have already enacted restrictions or bans on gender-affirming care for minors, while several major hospitals have stopped offering some treatments amid the changing legal and political environment. Several medical groups have also raised questions about evidence, risks and long-term outcomes involving gender treatments for minors.
The policy follows other Trump administration actions targeting gender-related policies, including plans to restrict federal funding for hospitals providing such care to minors, bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, and limit sex designations on U.S. passports to male or female.
The administration also released a report last year advocating therapy rather than broader gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, making the Medicaid and CHIP restrictions another major step in its campaign to reshape federal policy on treatment for minors.
