The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is banning Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding from being used for “sex-rejecting” drugs and surgeries for children.
“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 in a statement.
“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 continued.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is implementing the final rule “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 agency said the funding ban applies to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions for minors, which “can result in irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other lasting physiological effects.”
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement. “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.”
CMS said its decision follows a massive review of national and international research by HHS, in which the agency identified significant evidence gaps and serious safety concerns. CMS said the Trump administration’s assessment is “increasingly reflected” within the medical community, and pointed to recent policy shifts from the Society of Plastic Surgeons, as well as the UK’s Cass Report and actions taken by other countries to restrict sex changes for minors.
CMS said that under the final rule, there will be a “tapering-off period” of up to six months for children currently on hormone therapy funded by CHIP or Medicaid. The rule does not apply to coverage for mental health services, the agency said. The final rule is set to take effect on Oct. 13, 2026.
President Donald Trump praised the move in a post to Truth Social and slammed Democrats for their widespread embrace of sex-mutilating drugs and surgeries for confused youth.
“Today, at my direction, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that Medicaid will NO LONGER fund gender transition surgeries and hormones for minors. 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,” the 45th and 47th president said.
“Thanks to our strong position and pressure on this issue over the past year and a half, dozens of U.S. hospitals have already ended this so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’ and we expect many more to follow,” he continued. “Just think about all of the young, innocent, and perhaps confused children who will be spared!”
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“While the Dumocrat Party wants your kids to be able to chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote, President Donald J. Trump (ME!) and the Republican Party say that is ABSURD, and we will protect America’s children,” he added. “Please remember this when you are casting your vote in the Midterm Elections in November. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter!”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
