CEC Condemns Passage of Anti-Trans and Medicaid-Slashing GOP Tax Scam

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement after the House passed a budget reconciliation bill that would cut Medicaid, take health care away from 13.7 million Americans, and restrict access to medically-necessary care for transgender people of all ages:

“If the GOP Tax Scam becomes law, more than 13,700,000 Americans will lose their health insurance. But that doesn’t matter to Republicans in Congress—they need those cuts to pay for their billionaire buddies’ tax cuts. Attacks on the trans community are just the cherry on top for them,” said Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Regardless of how any one of us personally feels about the issue of trans peoples’ medical care, we should all be able to agree that the only people who should be making these decisions are patients, providers, and parents in the case of young people—not politicians. Congress should be working to make healthcare more affordable—not  banning coverage of medically necessary care or pulling the rug out from underneath millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid. If we really want to honor the idea of freedom our nation was founded on, we have to protect every American’s right, including transgender people’s right, to access evidence-based care without government interreference.”

BACKGROUND
Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill contains two provisions that target transgender peoples’ access to medically necessary care: 

• A provision that prohibits Medicaid and CHIP funding for puberty blockers, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries for trans people of all ages. Although the original provision only prohibited coverage for minors, Republicans adopted a managers amendment that broadened this provision to ban coverage for trans people of all ages.
• A provision that amends the Affordable Care Act to prohibit items and services furnished for a "gender transition procedure" (including puberty blockers, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries) from being covered as an essential health benefit. This will impact both plans offered on the ACA exchanges and other plans that are subject to the essential health benefits requirements. 

Every major medical and mental health association in the U.S., representing more than 1.3 million U.S. doctors, supports providing age-appropriate and affirming healthcare for transgender people. This includes the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Endocrine Society, among other organizations.