Florida bans Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming healthcare

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The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration has finalized new rules banning healthcare providers from billing the state’s Medicaid program for gender-affirming care. Under the new rules, puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgical procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria will not be covered for patients of any age.

The new rule will take effect on August 21.

Lambda Legal, Southern Legal Counsel, Florida Health Justice Project, National Health Law Program, and other LGBTQ and health rights groups released a joint statement decrying the move.

“Ignoring thousands of public comments and expert testimony, Florida’s AHCA has finalized a rule that will deny Medicaid coverage for all medically necessary gender-affirming care for both youth and adults,” the statement read. “This discriminatory and medically unsound rule will take effect on August 21, 2022, putting transgender people in jeopardy of losing access to critical gender-affirming health care services.”

The change was first proposed in June, based on a report commissioned by Florida’s AHCA primarily on the effects of gender-affirming care on children. The report’s findings contradict the overwhelming consensus of all major medical organizations…

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