The Trump administration may cut off funding to hospitals that provide gender-related care to children and teenagers, according to a June 30 report from the The Wall Street Journal.
CMS told the Journal it believes it has the authority to stop funding gender-related care for children through Medicaid and Marketplace insurance plans, and is “reviewing its authority to kick hospitals out of Medicaid altogether if they don’t cease providing the surgeries,” the report said.
Nine hospitals had until June 28 to respond to CMS letters requesting data related to sex-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers. According to the report, the nine hospitals are Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Boston Children’s Hospital, Washington, D.C.-based Children’s National Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (Calif.), Aurora-based Children’s Hospital Colorado, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
So far, hospital response to the request has varied. Boston Children’s Hospital told the Journal it was obliged to provide gender-affirming care under Massachusetts state law, while Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles said it will close its gender-related care program for children, the report said. UPMC Children’s of Pittsburgh, told the Journal that the hospital would no longer offer some types of gender-related care to children, including puberty blockers.
Read the full report here.
