Trump is weaponizing the welfare state to attack healthcare | Moira Donegan

"Now, the Trump administration seems to be looking to cut off access to care for the other 60% of those kids. In a proposed rule leaked to NPR, the administration plans to ban gender-affirming care for minors from being covered by Medicaid or by the Children's Health Insurance Program, or Chip. In a second, more sweeping proposed rule, the Trump administration looks to ban hospitals, clinics and providers from receiving any Medicaid or Medicare reimbursements at all if their practice provides transition-related pediatric care."

"If enacted, the orders which NPR reports are scheduled for a rollout in early November would dramatically reduce the number of providers able to treat trans teens, even in states where the care remains legal. Unable to keep their practices financially viable without reimbursements for care provided to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, the majority of medical professionals currently treating trans kids with puberty blockers, hormones or affirming forms of psychotherapy would be forced to stop providing such treatment."

"The result would be a back-door ban on transition-related care for minors nationwide: even in states that have not passed laws banning the care, like the one upheld in Skrmetti, trans teens and their families even those are able to pay for the care would not be able to find a doctor willing to help them. The exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid means that clinics are shutting their doors even in"

A Supreme Court decision allowed states to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors, and 27 states have enacted such bans since 2021. Approximately 40% of trans minors live in states where the treatment is illegal. New federal proposals would bar Medicaid and CHIP coverage for transition-related pediatric care and could prohibit providers from receiving Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements if they offer such care. Those policies would force many clinicians to stop treating trans teens for financial reasons, reducing provider availability and effectively creating a nationwide barrier to care even where state law permits it.

Read at www.theguardian.com