President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the federal government will no longer use Medicaid funds to cover transgender surgeries and hormones for minors.
“Today, at my direction, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that Medicaid will NO LONGER fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors. 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 in a post on Truth Social.
“Thanks to our strong position and pressure on this issue over the past year and a half, dozens of U.S. hospitals have already ended this so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’ and we expect many more to follow.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a rule ending federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funding for what the agency calls “sex-rejecting procedures” on children and youth.
It covers puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations.
Federal funding remains available for a tapering-off period of up to six months for children already on hormone therapy.
The rule takes effect on Oct. 13.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said: “Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits. 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.”
States may still use their own funds, as the action applies only to federal dollars.
CMS planned proposed rules to bar Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals from performing the procedures and to prohibit federal funding for them.
An HHS report cited risks including infertility and loss of bone density and recommended psychotherapy as an alternative.
The final rule released Tuesday builds on that December framework after public comment and further review of national and international research, including the United Kingdom’s Cass Review.
The moves stem from Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to stop funding, sponsoring, or supporting the “transition” of children under 19 through puberty blockers, hormones, or surgeries. The order instructed HHS to review related policies and enforce limits on such procedures.
