House passes tax bill that would ban Medicaid from covering transition-related careThe bill would also prohibit marketplace plans available under the Affordable Care Act from covering transgender care as an essential health benefit.
Link to Full ArticleNBC News - Jo Yurcaba
May 22, 2025, 2:59 PM MDT
The tax bill the House passed Thursday would bar Medicaid coverage of all transgender care and prohibit plans offered under the Affordable Care Act's exchanges from covering such care as an essential health benefit, potentially jeopardizing access to care for hundreds of thousands of trans adults and an unknown number of minors.
The bill initially would have prohibited Medicaid from covering "gender transition procedures" for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery. However, House Republican leadership introduced an amendment late Wednesday that struck the word "minors" and the words "under 18 years of age" from that section, The Independent first reported.
Another part of the bill would prohibit transition-related medical care as an essential health benefit under health care plans offered through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace. Essential health benefits packages vary by state but are required by federal law to cover 10 categories of benefits. Nearly half of states have prohibited health insurance providers from explicitly refusing to cover transition-related care.
... most major medical associations, such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, support access to such care.----------------------------------
