NPR has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services will not be finalizing its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming
"The Trump administration is abandoning its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming care for youth nationally, according to an official document obtained by NPR.
The document shows that the Department of Health and Human Services will not be finalizing a proposed rule that would have blocked all Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care."
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
This is a relief, of course, but as the article says, there still remains a question of the hospitals that prematurely ended their trans youth services before this rule was finalized. If the chilling effect remains, that would be a win-win for this administration: drastically reduced or no care options for trans kids with none of the legal hassle of actually putting the rule into effect.
Personally I will be contacting my mayor again. NYC has had two major hospitals abandon their trans youth patients and now is the time to pressure them into restarting. These kids deserve better. The Mamdani administration recently sent out an email to constituents who had lodged complaints, saying, "Our Law Department has submitted an amicus brief opposing subpoenas that sought the medical records of transgender patients, and we stand ready to litigate any threat to gender-affirming care for youth and adults." Well, a threat is still a threat until that care is restored. What these hospitals did was legally and morally wrong and they should be compelled to fix their mistake.
