Today, we submitted a public comment to the federal government expressing our fierce opposition to two proposed CMS rules that would severely limit access to gender-affirming care for youth.
Submit your own CMS Comments through the MassEquality portal by 2/15.
Read our Public CMS Comment from CEO Jo Erwin below:
As the CEO of Transhealth and on behalf of the patients we care for, the community we support, and the providers and staff we employ, I write to express fierce opposition to proposed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) rules that would severely limit access to trans healthcare for youth across the United States.
The Trump administration’s fixation on trans people is pathological, and its weaponization of medically necessary healthcare for trans youth is nothing short of cruel. This administration is engaged in an orchestrated campaign of deceit and lies designed to strip away access to essential healthcare for one of the most marginalized populations in the United States.
Here’s what we know to be true:
- Gender-diversity has existed across all of human history and cultures.
- Trans healthcare for youth is evidence-based and medically necessary.
- The trans healthcare that Transhealth provides is safe, effective, essential, and supported by every major medical and mental health association in the U.S.
- When trans youth have access to trans healthcare, they thrive; when they don’t their well-being, and lives, are severely harmed.
- Medical discussions and decisions surrounding trans healthcare for youth should belong to families and medical providers – not the federal government.
These proposed rules are an assault on children and their families who should have the right to make private healthcare decisions in collaboration with medical experts, and the proposed rules threaten the right of medical professionals to deliver evidence-based healthcare free from government interference.
Furthermore, this attack on trans youth is part of a larger move by the current administration to divide working people and distract from broad efforts being undertaken to dismantle democracy, roll back civil rights, curtail civil liberties, accelerate wealth inequality, and tear down the social safety net that all of us rely on, including and especially healthcare.
The extent to which trans youth will be harmed because of these proposed rules is incalculable. Rule number one would ban Medicaid and CHIP insurance from funding trans healthcare for youth, specifically targeting and harming low income families with trans children. Rule number two would require hospitals to stop providing trans healthcare for youth in exchange for being able to accept Medicaid and Medicare patients. If this proposed rule is implemented, hospitals would be put in the devastating position of being forced to choose between providing medically necessary healthcare to trans youth or providing all types of healthcare to those who rely on Medicaid and Medicare. Anticipating the implementation of these rules, some hospitals have already moved to pause their delivery of trans healthcare for youth.
There is absolutely no serious or legitimate question as to the scientific and evidence-based consensus on this topic. The research is clear. Trans healthcare for youth is essential medical care that significantly improves mental health and quality of life. There is no validity to public policy that takes away healthcare from our most vulnerable.
This isn’t just about trans youth. These proposed rules, and the political cruelty embedded within them, are an attack on all of us. The tactics being used to harm trans youth and deny them access to healthcare are the same tactics that are being used to commit violence against all marginalized communities and dismantle the nation’s healthcare and public health apparatus.
On behalf of all of our providers, nurses, mental health clinicians, and staff who affirm and support trans youth each and every day, Transhealth vehemently opposes these proposed rules. Trans youth deserve better than to have their existence and humanity questioned and their access to medically necessary healthcare targeted for elimination. Trans youth deserve to be understood, celebrated, supported and loved as their authentic selves.
Sincerely,
Jo Erwin, RN, BSN
CEO
