Press Release  AG Campbell Issues Statement On Proposed Rules To Limit Access To Medically Necessary Gender-Affirming Care

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released three new proposed rules to limit funding for and access to medically necessary gender-affirming care. If finalized, the rules would prohibit medical providers and hospitals from receiving Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reimbursements for care provided to transgender youth 18 and under, as well as block any hospital that provides gender-affirming care to young people from receiving any Medicare and Medicaid funding. A third proposed rule would exclude people with gender identity disorders from certain statutory protections from discrimination for HHS-funded programs. 

“Medically necessary health care for transgender youth saves lives and is essential to their emotional and physical wellbeing,” said AG Campbell. “While these proposed rules cruelly target our trans community, they will put millions of Americans’ health care at risk by forcing hospitals and medical providers to choose between receiving Medicaid and Medicare funding or abandoning their adolescent transgender patients. I will continue to stand up for the rule of law and the right of all Massachusetts residents to receive medically necessary health care and am prepared to take action if any unlawful rule is finalized.”  

Today’s announcement is just the first step in a process that allows residents – including patients, parents, providers, and other interested parties – to offer feedback before the rules are finalized. Currently, the rules are not law and patients’ rights and health insurers’ responsibilities under Medicaid remain unchanged. Gender-affirming care remains legal under federal law, and access to gender-affirming care remains legal and protected in Massachusetts.  

Since January 2025, the Trump Administration has made it a priority to make medically necessary gender-affirming care for young people inaccessible. On day one of his presidency, President Trump issued an Executive Order declaring gender identity a “false” idea. A week later, the President issued another Executive Order attempting to strip federal funding from institutions that provide lifesaving gender-affirming care for young people under the age of 19, with the ultimate goal of ending all gender-affirming care for adolescents. Today’s proposed rules are the latest effort by the Administration to force providers and medical institutions to stop providing lawful and medically necessary gender-affirming care and interfere with the relationship between parents, patients, and doctors. 

Massachusetts law bars discrimination against transgender patients in health care, including in health insurance. State law prohibits state-regulated health insurance plans from refusing enrollment, unenrolling, or withholding coverage from individuals based on their gender identity or gender dysphoria, and entitles patients to access services of a medical, behavioral health, mental health, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, diagnostic, preventative, rehabilitative or supportive nature relating to the treatment of gender dysphoria. 

AG Campbell will strongly oppose the newly proposed rules during the designated comment period and is prepared to take further action should any unlawful rule be finalized.  

AG Campbell remains committed to fighting back against any attempt to deprive Massachusetts residents of the health care they need. In August, AG Campbell co-led a coalition of 16 attorneys general and the Governor of Pennsylvania in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to use criminal and civil enforcement to restrict access to necessary health care for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary youth.  In September, AG Campbell joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging HHS over its cruel, arbitrary, and illegal effort to pull funding for longstanding teen reproductive and sexual health education programs unless states remove language affirming young people’s gender identity. And most recently, in October, AG Campbell led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s attempt to subpoena gender-affirming care records at Boston Children’s Hospital. 

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