A federal court judge in Florida ruled Wednesday that the state's new law banning the Medicaid program from funding sex change care is "lawful."
United States Northern District of Florida Court Judge Robert Hinkle denied a preliminary injunction Wednesday stopping a law in that state that prohibits the state's Medicaid program from funding most "gender-affirming" care, Politico reported.
"There's nothing wrong with the state saying they will approve treatment for this and not that," Politico reported Hinkle saying shortly before he ruled against the preliminary injunction from the bench. "The question here is about the Medicaid statute."
The ruling comes from a lawsuit filed in September by a coalition of groups on behalf of four Medicaid recipients in that state that were either transgender or parents of transgender individuals, NPR reported in September.
"This exclusion is discrimination, plain and simple," Carl Charles, a senior attorney for Lambda Legal, a LGBTQ civil rights organization that is leading the lawsuit and has litigated similar issues around the country, said in the NPR report. "Transgender Medicaid beneficiaries deserve health care coverage free from discrimination, just like any other Medicaid beneficiary in Florida."
Politico reported that Florida is one of 10 states that blocks Medicaid funding for "gender-affirming" care, including behavioral therapy, hormone-blocking medications, or surgeries.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration created the rule and is defending its implementation in lawsuit.
According to the report, Florida's AHCA lawyer Mohammad Omar Jazil, told Hinkle the rule provides for some exceptions where patients were pre-approved for treatment.
The Tampa Bay Times reported Aug. 15 that the new rule was scheduled to take effect later that month, with the state agency signing off on a recent report that found such care not being proven "safe or effective" in treating gender dysphoria.
"It is imperative for states like Florida to step up and ensure our focus remains on the actual evidence, rather than the eminence of a medical society or association," Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller said in the article at the time.
One of the witnesses who testified during Wednesday's hearing in the case, said that his 18-year-old daughter died of a drug overdose because she was depressed during her transition care, which included gender surgery.
"All I know is the system — the world, the Internet, her friends — informed her to take this journey," New Jersey resident Yaakov Sheinfeld said, fighting back sobs, according to the Politico report. "And now she's dead."
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