• Posted December 22, 2025

Trump Administration Seeks to Cut Funding for Transgender Youth Care

Medical care for transgender kids could soon become much harder to access with Trump administration health officials planning to penalize hospitals and doctors who offer it.

Under proposed new rules from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), hospitals that offer treatments such as puberty blockers or surgeries to transgender minors would be barred from participating in Medicare and Medicaid. 

The rules would also prevent these federal insurance programs from covering those treatments.

“These procedures fail to meet professionally recognized standards of care,” said U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who described many forms of transgender care for children as "malpractice."

"Medical professionals or entities providing sex-rejecting procedures to children are out of compliance with these standards of health care," Kennedy added.

Medical groups pushed back strongly, warning that the move could interfere with doctor-patient relationships and limit access to care for everyone.

“Allowing the government to determine which patient groups deserve care sets a dangerous precedent, and children and families will bear the consequences,” Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN.

"Patients, their families, and their physicians – not politicians or government officials – should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them," she added. "The government’s actions today make that task harder, if not impossible, for families of gender-diverse and transgender youth."

The announcement is part of a broader series of actions by the Trump administration aimed at transgender people. 

These steps have included removing references to transgender health from U.S. government websites, stopping certain data collection, barring transgender people from military service and suing states that allow transgender athletes to compete in school sports.

What's more, last week, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said the agency is sending warning letters to 12 companies that make or sell breast binders, accusing them of marketing the products to treat gender dysphoria in children.

At the same time, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said the agency will stop funding research related to gender transition, calling that research “junk science.”

Federal health officials said they plan to shift focus toward mental health support for transgender youth, including counseling and psychosocial care, CNN reported. But they acknowledged that the U.S. already faces a shortage of mental health providers.

Gender-affirming care is a broad medical approach that may include mental health services and, in some cases, age-appropriate medical treatments. 

Major medical organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA) support this type of care and say it can be lifesaving. But these groups also note that surgery is not recommended for children and is pretty rare among transgender teens.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they plan to fight the new rules in court.

“These gratuitous proposals are cruel and unconstitutional attacks on the rights of transgender youth and their families,” said Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Rights Project.

Kennedy said the administration expects legal challenges but is confident the rules will stand.

“If people sue us, they’re welcome to,” he said.

The announcement came shortly after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it illegal for doctors to provide certain transgender care to minors, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

More information

Planned Parenthood has more on gender-affirming care.

SOURCE: CNN, Dec. 18, 2025