President Donald Trump’s administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender minors and the state Children’s Health Insurance Program won’t pay for the treatments for those under 19.
The announcement is the latest in a series of policies from the administration aimed at transgender people that began last year.
The policy is to take effect Oct. 13.
It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover for transgender youth now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to questions about the policy on Tuesday.
At least 27 states have already banned gender-affirming care for those under 18. Even in states that haven鈥檛, many major hospitals have stopped providing some of the treatments. And gender-affirming surgeries for minors are rare. Puberty blockers and hormone treatments are more common.
The policy calls for Medicaid and CHIP to continue to pay for mental health treatment for transgender minors but phase out coverage of hormone treatments that are used both to block puberty and to produce sex-related physical changes for those already receiving them as of April 2027.
Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that he directed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, to make the change.
鈥淲e 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,鈥� Trump said in his post.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ young people look at it differently.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders legal director Josh Rovenger said the rule 鈥渋s putting up barriers between parents and their ability to make the best medical decisions for their children鈥� and would face a legal challenge.
鈥淭he Trump administration is terrorizing trans youth and their families with these kinds of actions, and it has to stop,鈥� Human Right Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
HRC is already suing the administration for efforts to bar gender-affirming care coverage under federal employee benefit plans.
The American Medical Association and most other major medical organizations support access to gender-affirming care, though the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said earlier this year that it found 鈥渋nsufficient evidence鈥� that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria 鈥� or the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match 鈥� outweigh the risks.
The it would cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for minors, along with from sports competitions for girls and women and blocking people from being able to choose male, female or X to designate their sex on passports.
It also last year urging therapy only for transgender youth and not broader gender-affirming health care.
Most of the changes have faced legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court let the administration’s stand and to enforce the sports bans. A against the administration’s declaration that called the treatments unsafe and ineffective. A challenge over the is still pending.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
