The Trump administration has begun taking steps to ban federal reimbursement money to hospitals that provide gender-changing surgeries to minors, it was reported Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will announce a proposal banning Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals that provide the procedures, the National Review reported.
A senior administration official told the outlet that, if approved, the rule will "effectively end sex-trait modifications for minors nationally."
The proposal is called "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Hospital Condition of Participation: Prohibiting Sex Trait Modifications for Children," which HHS officials will discuss to finalize its language.
"The rule essentially says that a hospital cannot get funding from Medicare or Medicaid for any of their services if they participate in child mutilation," a senior administration official told the National Review.
"In short, the concept is – hospitals cannot participate in Medicare of Medicaid if they provide sex trait modification services to minors, full stop."
The list of hospitals that have curbed trans programs for minors in some capacity includes Yale New Haven Health, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Stanford Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Denver Health, UCHealth, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, University of Chicago Medicine, Rush Medical Center, Mount Sinai, NYU Langone, Penn State Health, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Children's Hospital of Richmond, VCU Health, Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, Seattle Children's Hospital, Children's National Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente, the National Review reported.
In January, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting federal departments from funding, sponsoring, assisting, or facilitating the chemical and surgical mutilation of minors and directs them to stop these immoral, unjust, and disproven practices more broadly to the greatest extent possible.
In May, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz sent letters to "select hospitals," giving them 30 days to provide specific information on "medical interventions for gender dysphoria in children," The Hill reported.
"These are irreversible, high-risk procedures being conducted on vulnerable children, often at taxpayer expense," Oz said in a statement.
"Hospitals accepting federal funds are expected to meet rigorous quality standards and uphold the highest level of stewardship when it comes to public resources—we will not turn a blind eye to procedures that lack a solid foundation of evidence and may result in lifelong harm."
In June, the FBI asked for help from the public to disclose any medical facilities providing gender-transition procedures for children.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.