CEC Blasts Trump Rule to Restrict Care for Trans Youth on Medicaid, CHIP
CEC Chair Rep. Mark Takano: “Decisions about a young person’s care should be between the patient, their parents, and their provider—not politicians.”
Washington, DC — On August 11, the Trump Administration released a final rule that prohibits Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from covering medically-necessary care to transgender youth with federal funding. In response, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement:
“In the midst of the Republican Healthcare Crisis, the Trump Administration is once again working to rip access to medically-necessary care away from Americans that depend on lifesaving programs like Medicaid and CHIP,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Decisions about a young person’s care should be between the patient, their parents, and their provider—not politicians. This rule is just another cruel, overreaching attack by an Administration hell-bent on making a small, vulnerable minority of Americans’ lives worse. As Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, I’m going to continue fighting for the right of families to make their own medical decisions without politicians’ interference and for the right of young transgender people to access the care they need.”
BACKGROUND
On August 11, the Trump Administration released a final rule that prohibits use of federal Medicaid funding for medically-necessary healthcare, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for trans people under 18 and federal Children’s Hospital Insurance Program funds from covering this care for trans people under 19.
On February 17, 2026, Congressional Equality Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL), Transgender Equality Task Force Co-Chairs Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51), and Equality Caucus Vice Chairs Rep. Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Rep. Andrea Salinas (OR-06), and Rep. Mike Quigley (IL-05) led 106 Members of Congress in a comment letter opposing two rules proposed by the Trump Administration that would decimate access to medically-necessary care for young transgender people, including the rule finalized on August 11. Read our press release here.