CMS: Do Not Use Medicaid Funds For Juvenile Gender-affirming Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published their final rule prohibiting the use of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds for sex-rejecting procedures on children and youth.  FYI: The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a federal-state partnership which provides low-cost or free healthcare coverage for uninsured children and teens in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid:

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-ends-federal-medicaid-chip-funding-sex-rejecting-procedures-children-youth

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/13/2026-16508/medicaid-program-prohibition-on-federal-medicaid-and-childrens-health-insurance-program-funding-for

CMS Ends Federal Medicaid and CHIP Funding for Sex-Rejecting Procedures for Children and Youth
CMS Newsroom - August 11, 2026

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing an administration priority consistent with its commitment to protect children from experimental and life-altering sex-rejecting procedures that carry serious long-term health risks and lack sufficiently reliable evidence of clinical benefit. The final rule ends the use of federal Medicaid and CHIP funds to pay for these procedures on children and youth.

“Today, we are ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said. “These interventions carry serious risks and can cause irreversible harm. The federal government will no longer use Medicaid and CHIP dollars to fund procedures that fail to meet the evidentiary standard our children deserve.”

“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish.”

Sex-rejecting procedures on children, which include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations, can result in irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other lasting physiological effects.

CMS’ decision follows a review of national and international research by HHS that identified significant evidence gaps, documented serious safety concerns, and concluded that the evidence supporting these interventions for children remains insufficient to justify federal taxpayer funding. That reassessment is increasingly reflected within the medical community, as leading professional organizations — including specialty societies with direct expertise in this area, such as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons — clarify their positions on these interventions. CMS also points to international reviews, including the United Kingdom’s Cass Report, and actions taken by other countries and states here in the U.S. that have moved to restrict these procedures for minors.

Under the final rule, federal Medicaid and CHIP funding will be available for a tapering-off period of up to six months from the effective date of the final rule for children currently on hormone therapy. The rule does not affect coverage of mental health services. Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) provisions continue to ensure comprehensive coverage of mental health services for eligible children, and CHIP continues to require coverage of necessary mental health services in accordance with federal law.

This action applies only to federal Medicaid and CHIP funding.

Today’s action reflects CMS’ commitment to protecting children, safeguarding taxpayer resources, and ensuring that federal healthcare programs support treatments grounded in the best available evidence — not experimental interventions that carry potentially irreversible consequences for minors.

The final rule is scheduled to take effect October 13, 2026.

To view the final rule, visit:

https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-16508/medicaid-program-prohibition-on-federal-medicaid-and-childrens-health-insurance-program-funding-for

The Michigan Advance / Stateline take:

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/08/12/repub/federal-agency-blocks-medicaid-coverage-of-kids-gender-affirming-care/

Federal agency blocks Medicaid coverage of kids’ gender-affirming care
By Nada Hassanein - August 12, 2026

A new federal rule will end Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming hormone therapies and procedures for kids under age 18.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday a rule that prohibits state Medicaid plans from covering gender-affirming procedures for minors and using federal Medicaid dollars for such care.

The rule also prohibits Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, funds from being used for kids under 19. CMS is defining such care to include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical operations. The policy takes effect Oct. 13.

The Trump administration asserts that gender-affirming care is dangerous for kids, while many medical groups say it’s safe and can improve the mental health of children and adolescents. Surgical gender-affirming care operations are very rare for children.

For kids on Medicaid and CHIP who are currently on gender-affirming hormone therapy, the agency said state plans may continue to use federal money up to six months from now. Funds can still be used for mental health care for kids, the agency said.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted in a new release that gender-affirming procedures “carry serious risks and can cause irreversible harm.”

In response to several Trump proposals on gender-affirming care, many of the nation’s leading medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have affirmed the safety of care that aligns with a child or teen’s gender identity.

“These rules are a baseless intrusion into the patient-physician relationship,” Dr. Susan Kressly, then president of the academy, said in a December statement. “Patients, their families, and their physicians — not politicians or government officials — should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them.”