Florida Bans Use Of Medicaid On Transgender Surgeries

Florida Bans Use Of Medicaid On Transgender Surgeries

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration finalized new rules Thursday that will block healthcare providers from billing Medicaid to cover transgender surgeries.

Language added to the rules that govern the state’s $36.2 billion Medicaid program, which will go into effect Aug. 21, will prohibit the use of funds for puberty blockers, hormone therapies, or surgical procedures as treatments for gender dysphoria, according to Politico.

The board of the health agency passed a motion to update the rules on Friday that was met with backlash from the state’s LGBT community. The state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, backed the new rules at the meeting, stating that puberty is a confusing time for teenagers and warning of the risks of such procedures.

“Puberty is such an elaborate and confusing time,” Ladapo said, according to the Washington Post. “On the safety, again, it is incontrovertible. There clearly is a level of risk with these procedures, both the hormone therapy and hormone blockers for individuals who are in puberty and for the surgical interventions.”

Although beta blockers are reversible, surgical procedures such as removing genitals or breasts are not. Because of the permanent effect of surgical procedures, genital surgeries are not recommended for patients under the age of 18. Hormone replacement therapy is considered partially reversible, according to guidance by the Department of Health and Human Services