Medicaid says it will stop paying for some transgender procedures for minors

President Donald Trump's administration said that Medicaid will stop paying for transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors, and the state Children's Health Insurance Program won't pay for the treatments for those under 19.

The policy is to take effect Oct. 13.

It is not clear how much taxpayer funding is going to cover such procedures for youths 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 transgender procedures for those under 18. Even in states that haven't, many major hospitals have stopped providing some of the procedures.

The policy calls for Medicaid and CHIP to continue to pay for mental health treatment for gender-confused minors but phase out coverage of hormone procedures 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.

"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 so-called "gender-affirming care" coverage under federal employee benefit plans.

The American Medical Association and most other major medical organizations support access to such procedures, 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 confusion outweigh the risks.

The administration has already announced it would cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for hospitals that provide transgender procedures for minors. It has also barred biological males from competing in girls and women's sports competitions and blocked people from being able to choose a sexual identity on passports that does not match their biology.

It also released a report last year urging therapy only for gender-confused youth and not transgender procedures that can permanently alter their bodies.

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 hospital policy is still pending.