{"id":3438,"date":"2025-01-31T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=3438"},"modified":"2025-01-31T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T10:00:00","slug":"trumps-order-on-gender-affirming-care-escalates-reversal-of-trans-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=3438","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Order on Gender-Affirming Care Escalates Reversal of Trans Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump ratcheted up his administration\u2019s reversal of transgender rights on Tuesday with an executive order<\/a> that seeks to intervene in parents\u2019 medical decisions by prohibiting government-funded insurance coverage of puberty blockers or surgery for people under 19.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order, titled \u201cProtecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,\u201d is certain to face legal challenges and would require congressional or regulatory actions to be fully enacted. But transgender people and their advocates are concerned it will nonetheless discourage prescriptions and medical procedures they consider to be lifesaving in some cases, while complicating insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be understated how harmful this executive order is, even though it doesn\u2019t do anything on its own,\u201d said Andrew Ortiz, a senior policy attorney at the Transgender Law Center<\/a>. \u201cIt shows where the administration wants to go, where it wants the agencies to put their efforts and energies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order is one of several Trump has issued, less than two weeks since taking office, that target the trans community. He has directed his administration to recognize only the male and female sex \u2014 and to abandon the term \u201cgender\u201d altogether. He ordered the State Department to issue passports<\/a> identifying Americans only by their genders assigned at birth. He has encouraged the Justice Department to prosecute teachers and other school officials<\/a> who help trans children transition, including by using their preferred names. And he signed an order that\u2019s expected to lead to transgender people being banned from military service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re terrified. We cry every day. Hurting my family and my kid is winning politics for Republicans right now,\u201d said the parent of a transgender child who lives in Missouri and asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted. \u201cEvery bone in my body is telling me I can\u2019t keep my child safe from my government anymore, I can\u2019t keep my family safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 300,000 American children ages 13-17 identify<\/a> as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which researches sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. But the number who seek gender-affirming care is believed to be far fewer. An examination by Reuters and Komodo Health of about 330 million health insurance claims filed from 2017 to 2021 found that fewer than 15,000 patients<\/a> ages 6 to 17 with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria had received gender-affirming hormone therapy and fewer than 5,000 had started puberty-blocking medications \u2014 though the annual number of such patients more than doubled over the five-year span.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order seeking to disrupt insurance coverage for young people, the Williams Institute said in a brief<\/a>, \u201cwill likely at least limit the availability of gender-affirming care or make it more difficult to access in the short term and could increase risk for both providers and recipients of the care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of what the order calls for would require rule changes or other federal guidance, which can take weeks to months. Though it is mostly directed toward government health insurance programs, the order could have private-sector implications, too, and is likely to face litigation from states or advocacy organizations.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the directive intends to limit insurance coverage for hormonal or surgical treatments that help young people transition.<\/p>\n

It directs the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to \u201ctake all appropriate steps\u201d to end insurance coverage of such treatments. It specifically names several government programs such as Tricare, which serves the military and its dependents; Medicare and Medicaid; federal and postal health benefit programs; and the Foreign Service Benefit Plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim here is clearly targeted at federally funded plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, but there\u2019s a lack of clarity as to whether it would impact other plans, such as exchange plans, where essential health benefits are required,\u201d said Lindsey Dawson, director of LGBTQ Health Policy at KFF, the health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News.<\/p>\n

State Medicaid programs vary widely in their rules around transgender care, with a variety of limits or restrictions on what types of care can be covered for minors in just over half the states, according to a map<\/a> provided by the Colorado-based Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank.<\/p>\n

While little is likely to happen immediately from the order \u2014 one of more than 100 issued by the president since his inauguration last week \u2014 it could, nonetheless, have a chilling effect on medical professionals.<\/p>\n

The order directs the Department of Justice to work with Congress to promote legislation that would allow children and parents a \u201cprivate right of action\u201d \u2014 the ability to file a lawsuit \u2014 against medical professionals who provide transgender care.<\/p>\n

And the Justice Department was also directed to consider the application of existing laws to those who provide or promote access to gender care.<\/p>\n

In addition, one section of the order directs agencies to \u201ctake appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children,\u201d a move that could affect hospitals or medical schools.<\/p>\n

Julian Polaris, a partner at the consulting firm Manatt<\/a>, said the order \u201cdisplays the federal government\u2019s willingness to use federal programs to restrict access to disfavored services even to providers and patients outside those federal programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move drew immediate criticism from groups supporting LBGTQ+ people\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unconscionable that less than 24 hours after trying to take away Head Start programs and school meals for kids, President Trump issued an order demonizing transgender youth and spreading dangerous lies about gender-affirming care,\u201d Alexis McGill Johnson<\/a>, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote in a press release.<\/p>\n

Because it defines \u201cyouths\u201d as those under age 19, the order would apply the directives to medical treatments provided to 18-year-olds, who otherwise are considered adults in making legal choices, voting, or serving in the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also just a problem with not seeing young people as capable in making decisions around their health and their futures, and so blurring that line and trying to move it up and taking more control over more people is obviously concerning,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cBut having the line hard at 18 also doesn\u2019t make it any better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortiz noted that the order contains misinformation about medical care for young people who are transitioning and targets a small subset of U.S. residents: transgender youths in families that can access and afford gender-affirming care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat should be concerning to everybody,\u201d he said, \u201cthat they are pulling out populations to target, to say that, \u2018We don\u2019t think that you deserve access to best-practice medical care.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order explained that the action was necessary because such medical treatment could cause young people to regret the move later, once they \u201cgrasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This story can be republished for free (details<\/a>).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump ratcheted up his administration\u2019s reversal of transgender rights on Tuesday with an executive order that seeks to intervene in parents\u2019 medical decisions by prohibiting government-funded insurance coverage of puberty blockers or surgery for people under 19. Trump\u2019s order, titled \u201cProtecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,\u201d is certain to face legal challenges…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}