Trump's week in review: HHS halts funds for child sex changes; American released from Russia
1. Trump halts Medicaid, CHIP funding for child sex surgeries, hormone drugs
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the implementation of a rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that will prohibit the use of funds under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover gender transition procedures and cross-sex surgeries for trans-identified youth.
The rule, which is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 13, enables those who have already begun to use the federally funded health insurance programs to pay for gender transition procedures to take advantage of a “tapering-off period of up to six months” after the effective date.
“Today, we are ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “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,” he added.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz insisted that the administration is "following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish.”
The implementation of the rule comes after HHS produced a report 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.”
The Trump administration also noted that “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.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
