On Dec. 18, the Trump administration—in the forms of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz—announced a sweeping crackdown on gender-affirming care for trans youth, according to The Advocate.
One proposal would ban any hospital from providing gender-affirming healthcare to trans youth from participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Another would bar Medicaid funds from covering gender-affirming care for trans minors and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds from covering such care for trans minors under the age of 19.
Kennedy also signed a declaration asserting that gender-affirming care for minors “does not meet professionally recognized standards of health care,” according to the HHS. Oz said the proposals are meant to prevent federal programs from supporting what he described as unproven medical interventions.
HHS officials also stated that the Food and Drug Administration will issue warning letters to 12 manufacturers and retailers of breast binders, which the agency classifies as Class I medical devices. “Illegal marketing of these products for children is alarming,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said. “The FDA will take further enforcement action such as import alerts, seizures, and injunctions if it continues.”
In a Dec. 19 statement, Equality Illinois CEO Channyn Lynne Parker noted, “These announcements are proposals, not law. Gender-affirming medical care remains legal and accessible in Illinois today. Families can continue to seek care. Providers can continue to offer it. State protections remain firmly in place.
“Even so, these proposals raise serious concerns. They reflect an ongoing effort to inject politics into health care decisions that belong with patients, parents, and licensed medical professionals. At a time when families across the country are worried about rising health care costs and access to care, federal leadership is choosing to target a small and vulnerable group instead.”
Parker predicted that the crackdown could have even wider-reaching implications.
“Medicare and Medicaid funding supports hospitals that serve seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income communities,” she said. “Threatening that funding risks service reductions, staffing losses, and higher costs that would affect everyone who relies on local hospitals.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson also criticized the proposals, saying in a Dec. 18 statement that “the Trump administration is relentless in denying health care to this country, and especially the transgender community. Families deserve the freedom to go to the doctor and get the care that they need and to have agency over the health and well-being of their children.”
On Dec. 18, National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter said, “We stand with parents and families against Trump administration efforts to dictate personal medical decisions. These rules wage an attack on the lowest income Americans’ ability to access health care and cruelly seek to cut off health care for all transgender youth.”
The crackdown follows a similar attempt on the legislative front to ban gender-affirming care. On Dec. 17, the U.S. House passed a bill that would make providing such care to transgender minors illegal, The Advocate reported in a separate piece.
This marks the first time Congress approved a national ban on such treatment. The measure—introduced by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and titled the Protect Children’s Innocence Act—now goes to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass.
The act would impose felony penalties of up to 10 years in prison on doctors who provide puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgical care to patients younger than 18. The bill would also expose parents and others who consent to or help minors access that care to criminal liability.
And the bill passed with help from Democrats. Three Democrats—Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, as well as North Carolina Rep. Don Davis—joined all but four Republicans (Gabe Evans of Colorado, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Kennedy of Utah and Mike Lawler of New York) in supporting the bill’s passage. President Donald Trump recently pardoned Cuellar after the congressman was indicted on a dozen charges of bribery, money laundering and conspiracy.
In January 2025, Cuellar and Gonzalez were the only Democrats in Congress to vote for the anti-trans Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which bans federal funds for schools that allow trans athletes in girls sports per The Texas Tribune.