Medicaid says it will stop paying for some gender-affirming care for
transgender minors
[August 12, 2026]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
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 the day Trump
returned to office last year.
The policy is to take effect Oct. 13.
It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover
gender-affirming treatments 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’t, 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.
“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 in his post.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ young people look at it differently.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders legal director Josh Rovenger said
the rule “is putting up barriers between parents and their ability to
make the best medical decisions for their children” and would face a
legal challenge.
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A protester is silhouetted against a trans pride flag during a
pro-transgender rights protest outside of Seattle Children's
Hospital, Feb. 9, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
 “The Trump administration is
terrorizing trans youth and their families with these kinds of
actions, and it has to stop,” 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 “insufficient evidence” that the benefits of chest, genital
and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria — or
the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and
gender identity don't match — outweigh the risks.
The administration has already announced it would cut off Medicaid
and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming
care for minors, along with barring transgender athletes 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 released a report 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 passport policy stand and allowed
states to enforce the sports bans. A lower court ruled against the
administration's declaration that called the treatments unsafe and
ineffective. A challenge over the policy targeting hospitals is
still pending.
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