MIAMIÂ – LGBTQ and well being groups have denounced a brand new rule by Florida well being officers set to take impact later this month to prohibit Medicaid insurance coverage protection for gender dysphoria therapies for transgender individuals.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration filed the brand new rule this month, and it’s set to take impact Aug. 21, in accordance to on-line data.
The state company beforehand launched a report stating that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and intercourse reassignment surgical procedure haven’t been confirmed secure or efficient in treating gender dysphoria. Tom Wallace, the state’s deputy director of Medicaid, signed off on the report in June.
“It is imperative for states like Florida to step up and ensure our focus remains on the actual evidence, rather than the eminence of a medical society or association,” stated Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller
Lambda Legal, Southern Legal Counsel, Florida Health Justice Project and National Health Law Program issued a press release Thursday saying the AHCA is ignoring 1000’s of public feedback and professional testimony by finalizing a discriminatory and medically unsound rule.
“AHCA’s actions, at the behest of Governor (Ron) DeSantis and his political appointees, are morally and legally wrong, as well as medically and scientifically unsound,” a joint assertion from the groups stated. “This rule represents a dangerous escalation in Governor DeSantis’s political zeal to persecute LGBTQ+ people in Florida, and particularly transgender youth.”
Transgender medical remedy for youngsters and youths is more and more underneath assault in lots of states the place it has been labeled a type of little one abuse and the place Medicaid protection is barred. Critics level to the irreversible nature of many components of gender transition remedy.
Many medical doctors and psychological well being specialists argue that medical remedy for transgender youngsters is secure and useful and may enhance their well-being, though rigorous long-term analysis on advantages and dangers is missing. Federal tips say gender-affirming care is essential to the well being and well-being of transgender and nonbinary youngsters.
Last yr, the American Medical Association issued a letter urging governors to block any laws prohibiting the remedy, calling such motion “a harmful intrusion into the apply of medication.
In a press release, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller stated “we have seen a dangerous mix of politics and medicine from doctors in the Biden Administration and many of our medical societies across the United States.”
“It is imperative for states like Florida to step up and ensure our focus remains on the actual evidence, rather than the eminence of a medical society or association,” she stated.
