The HHS has been targeting transgender young people’s ability to access trans health care, and these AG’s stepped in.
The rules, proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a sub-agency of HHS, seek to bar hospitals from providing medically necessary transgender health care to youth by withholding Medicaid and Medicare funds to hospitals that continue to provide such care; and prohibit state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans from using federal funding for transgender youth health care.
The proposals are clear government overreach
The letters from the AGs highlight violations of the Spending Clause and Equal Protection Clause, as well as contradictions of statutes including the Social Security Act, the Affordable Care Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and key nondiscrimination laws. The proposed rules further reflect HHS’s decision to discriminate against transgender youth despite contrary medical and scientific evidence, as shown by the agency’s failure to faithfully engage in the rule making process, including its lack of required regulatory impact and flexibility analyses.
The HHS report has been discredited as methodologically flawed because it was anonymously published initially without peer review and issued at the direction of the president with the specific aim of supporting his goal of ending transgender healthcare. Additionally, the proposed rules fail to take into account the significant costs to transgender youth, their families, and their healthcare providers.
Thank you Michigan AG Dana Nessel for standing up to anti-trans attacks and making Michigan a safer place. We will continue to fight back against hate.