President Donald Trump announced on August 11 that he has directed Dr. Mehmet Oz to declare that Medicaid will no longer fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors. The policy change, which Trump described as protecting “innocent children” from “barbaric surgeries and practices,” is part of the administration’s broader push against so-called “gender-affirming care.”
“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 a statement on social media. He claimed that 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.”
Trump contrasted his position with that of the Democratic Party, which he accused of wanting children to be able to “chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote.” He called such policies “absurd” and urged voters to remember the issue when casting ballots in the November midterm elections. The announcement comes as the administration continues to tighten restrictions on medical procedures for transgender youth, with several states having already passed similar bans.
