TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is contemplating new rules that may strip transgender therapies from Medicaid protection.
LGBTQ-advocacy teams decry the concept, saying it’s going to damage 1000’s of Floridians.
The state company revealed the proposed rule on gender dysphoria in June.
If accredited — Florida’s greater than $30 billion Medicaid program will now not cowl issues the next:
- Puberty-blocking meds
- Hormones, or hormone antagonists
- No sex-reassignment surgical procedures
- Nor “other procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics…”
The rule suggests these treatments do not meet the usual of a “medical necessity.”
“A lot of progressives aren’t speaking out against these horrible bans that are just attacking trans people and trans children,” Sabrina Hartsfield of Tallahassee stated.
E.W. Scripps
For two hours Friday, company officers listened to public feedback on the concept. More than 70 folks deliberate to converse in the course of the Tallahassee assembly.
They fear the change may hurt an estimated 9,000 transgender Floridians, in accordance to a 2019 UCLA report.
“It’s telling trans people in Florida, basically Florida does not care about you,” Hartsfield stated. “We want to do everything to put your life and livelihood in jeopardy.”
In a report, AHCA justified the rule saying there’s “insufficient evidence” that the therapies are secure and efficient. That’s regardless of teams just like the American Academy of Pediatrics supporting them.
“While clinical organizations like the AAP endorse the above treatments, none of those organizations relies on high-quality evidence,” the AHCA report stated. “Their eminence in the medical community alone does not validate their views in the absence of quality, supporting evidence. To the contrary, the evidence shows that the above treatments pose irreversible consequences, exacerbate or fail to alleviate existing mental health conditions, and cause infertility or sterility.”
E.W. Scripps
Supporters of the rule, like Bev Kilmer, would agree. The former Florida House consultant was handing out stickers at Friday’s assembly, every studying “Let Kids Be Kids.”
“I do not think that this needs to be provided to children, period,” Kilmer stated. “It should not be paid for by taxpayers’ money,” Kilmer stated. “It is not an illness. It is not a disease.”
LGBTQ-advocacy teams have condemned the proposal as an extra assault on transgender Floridians. They cite a 2019 UCLA report that implies the choice will impression as many as 9,000 within the state.
“This is going to have a deleterious effect on trans people living in Florida who rely on Medicaid as their health insurance coverage,” stated Carl Charles with Lambda Legal.
E.W. Scripps
Charles stated his group was already planning to problem the rule in court docket. He stated to anticipate a submitting quickly after its anticipated approval.
“A rule, such as this, which discriminates on the basis of a person’s sex or gender, violates a whole host of constitutional principles and federal statutes,” he stated.
Public remark continues on-line till Monday afternoon. After that, AHCA Secretary Simone Marstiller will make a remaining determination on whether or not to undertake the rule.
