House Passes Bill Banning Federally-Funded Trans Healthcare
Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” was passed by the House on Thursday morning.
Early Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which would ban all federally-funded gender affirming care for transgender people—no matter their age.
The sweeping domestic policy bill strips gender affirming care funding from Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program), including puberty blockers, hormone treatment,t and surgeries for trans people of any age. Additionally, the bill prohibits “gender transition procedures” as an “essential health benefit” under the Affordable Care Act.
In an earlier version of the bill, gender affirming care was only banned for people under the age of 18, but when the House Republican leaders released their manager’s amendment right before the vote, the phrases “for minors” and “under 18 years of age” were struck from the legislation.
Related: Justice And Privacy For All: Healthcare Fight For The LGBTQ+ Community Rages On
The Williams Institute reports that 276,000 trans individuals are enrolled in Medicaid and would effectively lose treatment options if this bill were to be passed in the Senate.
The bill would make President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, make cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and education, cut subsidies for clean energy, and increase spending on the military and immigration enforcement.
President of the Human Rights Campaign, Kelly Robinson, wrote in a statement that the inclusion of gender affirming care in the bill’s cuts “shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access, but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”
Republicans are celebrating the passing of the bill, which fulfills Trump’s campaign promises of no taxes on tips. Trump himself celebrated with a post to social media, writing that the Democrats are “hoping someday to revive Open Borders for the World’s criminals to be able to pour into our Country, men to play in women’s sports, and transgender for everybody. They don’t realize that these things, and so many more like them, will NEVER AGAIN happen!”
