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Legislative bills

House Passes Legislation Prohibiting Medicaid Coverage of Gender Transition Care for All Ages

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The US House of Representatives passed a massive tax and immigration legislation that includes a provision banning Medicaid coverage of gender transition care for individuals of all ages. This marks an escalation of Republican efforts to restrict access to healthcare for transgender people, following a series of state-level bans and the Trump administration's attempts to phase out gender transition care for veterans. The prohibition on Medicaid coverage of transition care was added through a manager's amendment, which reflects deals made by Republican leaders with holdouts in their party.

Key Takeaways:

  • The legislation would prohibit Medicaid coverage of gender transition care for individuals of all ages, including adults, by altering the 2010 Affordable Care Act to exclude or require coverage of transition care.
  • An estimated 12 percent of transgender adults, or 180,000, use Medicaid, according to a recent report by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, an LGBTQ+ research center.
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated a national limit on youth transition care would result in $800 million in savings over a decade, but similar estimates were not available for adults.
  • Transition care includes puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and body-altering procedures, which have been endorsed by most major medical associations as "medically necessary."
  • The legislation is expected to face revisions in the GOP-controlled Senate, where LGBTQ+ advocates hope to scrap the transgender care provisions or block the overall bill due to potential procedural grounds.
  • Jay, a 25-year-old trans man, has used Medicaid to pay for testosterone and other transition care for the last decade, and worries how he'll make it through if the ban takes effect.
  • Health experts warn that patients who are on long-term hormone treatments can experience serious medical consequences if they stop taking them.

Statistics:

  • 12 percent of transgender adults use Medicaid, according to a recent report by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
  • Estimated 180,000 transgender adults use Medicaid, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated a national limit on youth transition care would result in $800 million in savings over a decade.
  • 66 percent of Americans oppose the use of public funds for transition care, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
  • 53 percent of Americans oppose the use of public tax dollars for adult transition care, according to the poll.

Sources:

  • The Christopher Street Project
  • Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)
  • The Movement Advancement Project
  • The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law
  • KFF, a health policy organization
  • The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research
  • The Congressional Budget Office
  • The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law report on Medicaid usage among transgender adults

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