The Trump administration moved Tuesday to end all federal funding for gender transition procedures on minors, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issuing a final rule that cuts off Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) payments for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced the policy shift, saying the procedures — which the agency described as “sex-rejecting” — can cause “irreversible damage,” including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other lasting physiological effects. The rule carries the force of law.
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” 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.”
The announcement drew immediate praise from President Donald Trump, who took to social media to celebrate the move. “Medicaid will NO LONGER fund gender transition surgeries or hormones for minors,” he wrote. “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.”
Trump also credited his administration’s pressure over the past year and a half for pushing “dozens of U.S. hospitals” to already end so-called “gender-affirming care,” and predicted more would follow. In a separate post, he attacked Democrats, writing that “the Dumocrat Party wants your kids to be able to chop off their reproductive organs before they are old enough to vote.”
The rule comes after a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review that, according to CMS, found “evidence gaps, documented serious safety concerns, and concluded that the evidence supporting these interventions for children remains insufficient to justify federal taxpayer funding.” The agency called the procedures “experimental and life-altering” and cited the UK’s Cass Report, which questioned the scientific basis for pediatric gender transition care.
The final rule includes a six-month “tapering-off period” for minors already receiving the drugs through Medicaid or CHIP, allowing them to be gradually weaned off. Mental health services are not affected by the funding cut, CMS said.
Conservatives and family advocacy groups welcomed the decision. Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, said in a statement that “President Trump has finally shut down the flow of Medicaid money into child gender transitions, and it’s about time someone in Washington put kids and families first.” He added that “no hardworking American should be forced to bankroll irreversible hormones and surgeries that carve up healthy young bodies under the banner of a radical ideology.”
The move is the latest step in a broader Republican push to restrict gender transition care for minors, which has become a central issue in state legislatures and the 2026 midterm elections. Several states have already passed laws banning such procedures, and the federal funding cutoff adds another layer of restriction for families seeking coverage through public insurance programs.
Critics of the administration’s policy — including medical organizations and LGBTQ advocacy groups — have argued that transition care is medically necessary for some minors and that cutting funding will harm vulnerable youth. However, CMS and its allies point to the HHS review and the Cass Report as evidence that the interventions lack sufficient backing.
Notably, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — which has long been considered the leading authority on transgender care and authored the “standards of care” that many doctors follow — has recently acknowledged in court that its guidelines are “opinion” and represent only one side of a “medical and scientific uncertainty,” according to the CMS announcement. The organization, which previously pushed an “affirmation-only” approach, now claims its standards are protected as “free speech.”
The federal funding ban does not apply to private insurance or out-of-pocket payments, meaning some families may still be able to obtain the procedures if they can pay for them. But for the many families who rely on Medicaid or CHIP, the rule effectively blocks access to these interventions for minors.
The rule is expected to face legal challenges, with opponents likely arguing that it oversteps CMS’s authority or violates federal law. Similar state bans have been tied up in courts, but the federal final rule may carry more weight, as it affects a broader range of programs.
For now, the administration is framing the action as a victory for children’s health and a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. As Oz put it, “These procedures are not just risky — they are unproven. We owe it to America’s children to protect them from harm, not to experiment on them.”
Source: thefederalist.com — https://thefederalist.com/2026/08/12/trump-admin-ends-medicaid-chip-funding-for-trans-child-mutilation-procedures/