The Trump administration announced Tuesday that Medicaid will stop funding child sex change hormones and surgeries. The decision, as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz explained, is part of the Administration's "commitment to protect children from experimental and life-altering sex-rejecting procedures that carry serious long-term health risks and lack sufficiently reliable evidence of clinical benefit." Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will join Medicaid in ceasing funding.
Medicaid ends funding for child sex-change procedures as Trump admin slams 'experimental' treatments https://t.co/5bGFsAXbpv
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2026
The procedures to no longer be funded include cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and sex-change surgical operations.
Dr. Oz referred to the previously funded treatments as "sex-rejecting," saying, "Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits. By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish."
CMS, informed by HHS, reviewed several studies which cite a lack of clinical benefits for these changes, while also warning of significant long-term consequences that could cause "irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other lasting physiological effects," HHS and CMS said.
CMS relied heavily on the 2024 Cass Review. The 2024 UK report conducted by Dr. Hilary Cass determined that research claiming benefits to "gender-affirming care" were found through non-clinical experiments, invalidating the findings and stating such procedures have no effect on mental health and can cause other serious long-term side effects like those aforementioned.
According to Fox, Medicaid and CHIP will still receive funding to treat mental health conditions including gender dysphoria. Treatment includes counseling, psychotherapy, and psychiatric evaluations, but physical treatments like "affirming" medications and surgeries will no longer be funded.
HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard further explained the decision in a statement to Fox.
The Trump Administration is drawing a clear line: America’s children will not be subjected to life-altering interventions on the taxpayer’s dime without reliable evidence of safety and clinical benefit. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, federal health care dollars will support evidence-based care that protects children and puts their long-term health first. American taxpayers should never be forced to finance interventions when the evidence of benefit is insufficient and the potential consequences for children can be serious and irreversible.
The move is the latest in the Trump administration's goal of rooting out woke culture ideologies that have found its way into policy and funding. The cuts will be phased out over time, grandfathering in those who are currently receiving funded treatment for six months past the date of enactment.