The Trump administration may soon block federal funding to hospitals that offer gender-affirming care for children and teenagers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, nine leading children’s hospitals recently received letters from federal officials requesting details about their use of hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and sex-reassignment surgeries.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, now head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said the initiative aims to shield children from what he described as “life-altering and experimental procedures.”
“CMS has warned hospitals and state Medicaid programs about these dangers — and is taking regulatory enforcement actions,” Oz said.
CMS officials are exploring whether federal Medicaid or insurance funding can be withheld from hospitals that continue to provide such care. They are also considering removing non-compliant hospitals from Medicaid entirely — a move that could prove devastating for many facilities heavily reliant on federal support.
One of the hospitals targeted, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has already announced plans to shut down its gender care program. The facility cited that more than 65% of its funding comes from federal sources.
“These threats are no longer theoretical,” hospital leaders wrote in a June 12 letter to staff. “The federal government has already cut off hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. academic and research institutions.”
Boston Children’s Hospital, meanwhile, said it is legally required under Massachusetts law to continue providing access to gender-affirming care and is currently reviewing the CMS letter.
The letters are part of a broader campaign by the administration to curtail gender-related medical care for minors. In April, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Justice Department would investigate healthcare providers performing gender-related surgeries or allegedly misleading families.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that individual states can restrict minors’ access to gender-related treatments. Public scrutiny over transgender-inclusive policies in schools and sports continues to rise.
According to nonprofit health policy group KFF, 27 states now have laws or regulations limiting access to gender-affirming care for youth.
Some hospitals are already scaling back. UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh said it would stop offering puberty blockers due to the legal risks.
“As we continue to monitor executive-branch memos, directives and other guidance from the federal government,” a hospital spokesperson said, “it has become clear that our clinicians can no longer provide certain types of gender-affirming care without risk of criminal prosecution.”
The nine hospitals that received CMS letters include:
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Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
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Seattle Children’s Hospital
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Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
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Boston Children’s Hospital
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Children’s National Hospital
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UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland
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Children’s Hospital Colorado
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UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
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Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Children’s Hospital Colorado and Cincinnati Children’s both stated that they do not perform surgeries on minors.
Ellen Kahn, senior vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, emphasized that surgeries for minors are extremely rare and that decisions should remain between families and their medical providers.
“Studies consistently show that affirming care reduces depression, anxiety and suicide risk among transgender youth,” Kahn said.
“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should protect healthcare, not politicize it,” she added.
Supporters of gender-related treatments argue these services are often life-saving for youth with gender dysphoria. Opponents counter that more research is needed to understand the long-term impacts of such care.
